Children's Home run by Strode Park Foundation for People with Disabilities in Kent

Inspection report children‟s home: SC425786 1 SC425786 Registered provider: Strode Park Foundation for People with Disabilities

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The children’s home provides care and accommodation for seven young people and adults who live in the home, and for a further three children who stay under short-break arrangements. Facilities are in place to meet the needs of children and young people who have learning and/or physical disabilities. The children’s home is operated by a local charitable foundation. The children’s home is also registered with the Care Quality Commission. The registered manager has a level 5 diploma in leadership and management for residential childcare.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 17 to 18 September 2019

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 18 October 2018

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC425786 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/10/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 09/01/2018 Full Good 09/11/2016 Full Good 22/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC425786 3

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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.

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 27/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child.

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i))* 27/10/2019*

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

that staff take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as 27/10/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC425786 4 to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(vi)(2)(b)) The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)) 27/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

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

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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)(2)(h))* 27/10/2019*

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child. (Regulation 23 (1)(2)(b))* 27/10/2019*

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b)) 27/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b))* 27/10/2019*

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the following items, 27/10/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC425786 5 which may be kept in electronic form, are kept in an accessible manner—

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Requirement Due date

children’s case records (see regulation 36). (Regulation 38 (i)) The registered provider must appoint, at the registered provider’s expense, a person (“the independent person”) to visit and report on the children’s home carried on by the registered provider.

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Requirement Due date

If the registered provider carries on more than one home, the registered provider may appoint the same person as the independent person for all or any of those homes.

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Requirement Due date

Subject to paragraphs (4) and (5), the registered provider may not appoint the following an independent person—

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Requirement Due date

a person who has, or has had, a connection with— the registered person; (Regulation 43 (1)(2)(3)(g)(i)) 27/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report children‟s home: SC425786 6

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children have been placed at unnecessary, and avoidable, risk. Regular medication errors have compromised the safety and welfare of children. Inspectors viewed incident reports which included the following:

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

 In November 2018, a parent complained that insufficient medication had been sent home with their child.  Also, in November 2018, staff recorded an incident report regarding the administration of morphine, one hour later than prescribed.  In January 2019, out-of-date medication was sent to school, from the children’s home, with a child.  In August 2019, the wrong medication was given to a child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The above shortfalls, some of which can be considered as ‘near misses’, are indicative of poor medication procedures, poor oversight and a failure to ensure safe practice in promoting the health of children. However, the provider did take some effective actions when concerns were highlighted.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children have also been exposed to avoidable risk due to poor care planning. In one example, a child was potentially harmed by the use of a hoist and sling. The registered manager checked the equipment and was satisfied that it remained safe. However, it was not known when the equipment was last serviced.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

There is no clear reporting system to demonstrate the progress that the children are making or have made. There is no specific process to formalise goals and targets for children to achieve. However, progress is recorded within children’s s care plans although the manager acknowledges this progress could be easier to locate and be better summarised. Despite there needing to be an improved mechanism to show progress, some children have enjoyed successes. For example, a child has increased their independence by improving their cooking skills. Another child is being well supported to return to live with their parents.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Following the shortfalls found at the last inspection, some aspects of the physical environment continue to require attention. Some of the children’s bathrooms and bedrooms were in need of repair. Examples include a bathroom where water had been left on the floor, a child’s bedroom being left with damage to the doorway and mould on a child’s bath toy. One child’s cot bed was dusty. These shortfalls detract from an otherwise homely environment and, in some instances, have the potential to affect the health and welfare of children. These shortfalls also demonstrate that there has been, at times, a lack of care and attention from leaders, managers and staff. Inspection report children‟s home: SC425786 7

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

Children’s s presenting risks have not always been clearly addressed in risk management plans. Some incidents have occurred in which children have been placed at potential risk of harm. However, leaders and managers have failed to thoroughly review the written guidance and strategies by which staff can reduce the risk of reoccurrence.

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

One child places themselves at risk of harm through a newly presenting behaviour. On one occasion, this resulted in their causing serious damage to property that could have resulted in a serious injury to the child. Inspectors asked for copies of the risk management plans . Managers confirmed that no such plans were in place.

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

Following significant incidents, the response of leaders and managers has lacked scrutiny. For example, there was a „near miss‟ for a child whose liquidised food contained a foreign body. Although this was noticed and remedied, the follow-up action of leaders and managers failed to include enough probing or retraining for the staff involved. Children live in a home where there has been an acceptance of some poor practice and failure to make, and sustain, effective change.

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

Although regular fire drills are undertaken, repeated faults have continued to be found. For example, from April 2019 to September 2019, staff reported faults to four door mechanisms. Leaders and managers have not always demonstrated that these faults have been repaired in a timely way. One child’s personal emergency evacuation plan has not been updated to reflect that she no longer uses a wheelchair to evacuate the home. Given the potential risk of harm, Ofsted has notified the local fire and rescue service of these concerns.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managerial oversight was judged as requiring improvement in October 2018 and has worsened. Poor management monitoring remains an ongoing concern. This is demonstrated by the failure of leaders and managers to identify the shortfalls and weaknesses found at this inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The provider’s continuing failure to meet three of the previous requirements raises concerns about the ability of leaders and managers. These requirements are therefore repeated and issued as compliance notices. A fourth compliance notice is also issued due to the shortfalls found in medication processes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The response of leaders and managers to, and the written records from, serious incidents have continued to be poor. These include medication errors. There has been a lack of enough scrutiny in understanding why and how incidents have occurred and could potentially have been prevented.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Poor supervision practice for the staff inhibits their continued learning and professional Inspection report children‟s home: SC425786 8 development. This shortfall was identified at the previous inspection in October 2018 and continues to be a shortfall. Staff do not have regular protected supervision time with the registered manager, or other appropriately experienced senior member of staff, to reflect on and receive feedback on their practice or to share any concerns relating to the running of the home, including welfare or safeguarding issues.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Inspectors were told that a staff member had archived numerous records. However, there was no clarity about what and where information was stored. This hampered the inspection and created additional pressure for staff trying to locate them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers responded swiftly to the inspectors’ concerns. Additional nursing cover was instigated immediately by leaders as a precautionary measure, to allow further internal investigations to begin. Inspection report children‟s home: SC425786 9

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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.

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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: SC425786 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Strode Park Foundation for People with Disabilities

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Strode Park Foundation, Strode Park House, Lower Herne Road, Herne Bay, Kent CT6 7NE

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Inspectors

Sarah Olliver, social care inspector Suzy Lemmy, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC425786 11 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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