Children's home run by Diverse Abilities Plus Limited in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

Inspection report children‘s home: SC004085 1 SC004085 Registered provider: Diverse Abilities Plus Ltd

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This children‘s home is run by an independent charitable organisation. The organisation provides a short-break service for up to four children who have sensory impairment, physical and/or learning disabilities. Day care, for additional children, is provided on the same premises. The registered manager has been in post since December 2013.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

p.1

good

The children‘s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 18 September 2018

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‘s home: SC004085 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/09/2018 Full Good 16/02/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 17/05/2017 Full Good 13/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children‘s home: SC004085 3

p.2

Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Children‘s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‗Guide to the children‘s homes regulations including the quality standards‘. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

p.3

Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children‘s home that—

p.3

Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

p.3

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

p.3

Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) and (2)(h)) 30/09/2019

p.3

Requirement Due date

33: Employment of staff The registered person must ensure that all employees—

p.3

Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 30/09/2019

p.3

Requirement Due date

34: Policies for the protection of children The registered person must keep under review and, as necessary, revise the home‘s child protection policies. (Regulation 34 (6)) 30/09/2019

p.3

Requirement Due date

36: Children‘s case records The registered person must maintain records (―case records‖) for each child which—

p.3

Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

p.3

Requirement Due date

are kept up to date; and 01/09/2019 Inspection report children‘s home: SC004085 4 are signed and dated by the author of each entry.

p.3

Requirement Due date

if the child dies before attaining the age of 18, for 15 years from the date of the child‘s death;

p.4

Requirement Due date

in cases not falling within sub-paragraph (a), for 75 years from the child‘s date of birth;

p.4

Requirement Due date

securely in the children‘s home during the period when the child to whom the case records relate is accommodated there; and

p.4

Requirement Due date

in a secure place after the child has ceased to be accommodated in the home. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(b)(c) and (d))

p.4

Requirement Due date

44: Independent person: visits and reports The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children‘s home at least once each month. The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person‘s report to—

p.4

Requirement Due date

upon request, the local authority for the area in which the home is located;

p.4

Requirement Due date

the registered provider and, if applicable, the registered manager; and

p.4

Requirement Due date

the responsible individual (if one is nominated). (Regulation 44 (1)(7)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)) 31/08/2019

p.4

Requirement Due date

45: Review of quality of care The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (―a quality of care review‖) at least once every 6 months. In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

p.4

Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

p.4

Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children‘s 30/09/2019 Inspection report children‘s home: SC004085 5 home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

p.4

Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (―the quality of care review report‖).

p.5

Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and

p.5

Requirement Due date

make a copy of the quality of care review report available on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home.

p.5

Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1)(2)(a)(b)(c)(3)(4)(a)(b) and (5))

p.5

Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home‘s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‗Guide to the children‘s homes regulations including the quality standards‘, page 62, paragraph 14.4) In particular, ensure that progress towards individual goals is assessed and recorded for every short-break attendance. Inspection report children‘s home: SC004085 6

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from spending time at this short-break service where they receive good- quality care and have lots of fun. Committed and enthusiastic staff ensure that children have positive experiences while being away from their home. During the inspection, painted footprints were transformed into a superhero or a fairy-tale princess, just one example of children having lots of fun with messy play. A sensory room, soft play and cooking activities are readily available inside the house, and the garden has water play, a swing and a trampoline. Music and singing permeate through the home, adding to the positive atmosphere. New and varied experiences occur outside of the home, making good use of the close proximity to the seaside. Beach walks, shopping, visiting restaurants and local parks provide many opportunities for children to be in the local community.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager carefully plans the short breaks to consider the individual needs of each child and the impact of them mixing as a group. In addition, this charitable organisation provides day care for children with disabilities in the home. The larger group of children integrate well and make good use of the premises, except for the bedrooms; these are reserved for those having a short-break stay. Children who prefer to be alone and in a quieter environment can have this level of emotional security, due to the high staffing ratio where each child receives care and attention from a dedicated member of staff.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and their families receive a warm welcome at this service. Introductions can be arranged slowly with a gradual build-up in attendance if this suits the child. Parents are fully involved and provide extensive details to inform the care plans. The manager ensures that there is a collaborative approach in meeting the health and medical needs of children. Care and medical protocols are agreed by parents and health and social care professionals. This ensures that the children receive consistent care by informed adults. Children and their parents are very satisfied and view this valuable service as providing a sleepover with friends.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Creative use of communication encourages children to express their wishes and feelings. Choice is routinely promoted to enable children to make decisions. Children make progress and gain independence, where possible, with their personal care, confidence, communication and engagement with activities. However, records to capture progress are sporadic and there is a missed opportunity when daily entries against achievements are often left blank.

p.6

How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Children‘s safety and well-being are given high regard by trained staff. Complex medical needs are managed well by staff following the agreed healthcare plans and protocols. Medication is administered and stored safely. Parents have confidence that the staff team can respond to medical emergencies such as epileptic seizures or the need for oxygen. This level of trust is essential to the positive relationships between staff and Inspection report children‘s home: SC004085 7 parents.

p.6

How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The environment provides a safe space to play. Prompt attention is given to any maintenance or repair required. Children are free to move about without restrictions. Risks to individual children are managed well through identification and strategies clearly recorded on how to manage and reduce known risks. For some children, risk management involves the use of audio or visual monitors during the night. This level of surveillance is always by agreement with parents and professionals to ensure it is proportionate and regularly reviewed.

p.7

How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Since the last inspection, there have been no allegations or serious incidents. Physical intervention is minimal and only used to prevent a child from harming themselves or others. The records of physical intervention have greatly improved now that they are stored in a bound book and cross-reference to any incident report. Behaviour support plans provide clear guidance for staff to focus on deflection and distraction when a child is showing signs of being distressed.

p.7

How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

A culture of safeguarding children is promoted through adopting safer recruitment procedures and providing regular training to all staff. Staff are clear on the need to report and record any concern they may have. The safeguarding policy has clear procedures for reporting. However, the policy requires review to remove outdated references and ensure that appropriate language is used. Similarly, the lone-working policy requires review to become more specific to this short-break service, as currently it is too generic relating to other services within the organisation.

p.7

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders and managers do not complete all the management tasks within timescales. The care of the children is rightly given priority. However, there is an unsatisfactory delay in completing the monitoring of the quality of care that is required to meet regulation.

p.7

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders and managers are not maintaining records in strict accordance with the regulations. The organisation provides day care alongside a short-break service, and there is a failure to differentiate between the two services being offered. Children receiving a short break are in a regulated setting and therefore subject to children‘s homes regulations. Recording systems do capture essential information; but without separating those relevant to the short-break service, the manager is hindered in any effective monitoring of the quality of care. After significant delay, the manager has produced reports to review the quality of care for all the children. These review reports lack structure to report against the quality standards and are not submitted to Ofsted in a timely manner. Similarly, the independent person who undertakes a monitoring visit each month fails to submit the report to Ofsted within the expected timescale. These

p.7

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

shortfalls leave Ofsted, as the regulator, without routine reports on the service.

p.7

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Generally, staff feel supported in their work and receive regular training to enhance and update their knowledge and skills. The majority of staff receive supervision every month, but for some this is not always available. A new member of staff reported that she found Inspection report children‘s home: SC004085 8 the induction and training very helpful and supportive, but that she has not yet received formal supervision in the five weeks of her employment.

p.7

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

This service is unique in there being one large staff team which provides care to children with disabilities across many services: this short-break service, day care, domiciliary care and project groups. Although it is a large staff team, a strength of this service is the positive relationships built with children, and their families, as staff may be providing care in their homes as well as during a short break.

p.8

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders and managers communicate well with parents and professionals. As a result, there have been no complaints. The organisation maintains a website with useful information and policies. The news section of the website includes a blog throughout the school holidays, sharing details and photographs of the many activities the children have enjoyed. This, along with individual diaries, enables parents to share their child‘s experience of their short break.

p.8

Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the children‘s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

p.8

Information about this inspection

Using the ‗Social care common inspection framework‘, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children‘s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‗Guide to the children‘s homes regulations including the quality standards‘. Inspection report children‘s home: SC004085 9

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Diverse Abilities Plus Ltd

p.9

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Barnabas Project Centre, 13–15 Manor Avenue, Parkstone, Poole, Dorset BH12 4LB

p.9

Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Jonathan Seaward

p.9

Inspector

Clare Davies, social care inspector Inspection report children‘s home: SC004085 10 achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children‘s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children‘s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

p.9

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.10

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.10

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.10