Children's Home run by Fairfield Residential Limited in Cheshire West and Chester

Inspection report children’s home: SC397987 1 SC397987 Registered provider: Fairfield Residential Ltd

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to two children who have learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in September 2017.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

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

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good

Date of last inspection: 6 February 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC397987 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/02/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 18/09/2018 Full Good 22/11/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 24/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC397987 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 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— that staff— 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. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, risk management plans should clearly demonstrate procedures to be followed if a child goes missing. 22/11/2019

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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

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(b)(2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person should ensure that all staff are trained in fire awareness. 22/11/2019

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the home is maintained and decorated to a high standard and provides children with a welcoming and homely environment. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)  The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should: Inspection report children’s home: SC397987 4 o detail the necessary management and staffing structure, (including any staff commissioned to provide health and education), the experience and qualifications of staff currently working within the staffing structure and any further training required for those staff, to enable the delivery of the home’s Statement of Purpose; o detail the processes and agreed timescales for staff to achieve induction, probation and any core training (such as safeguarding, health and safety and

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Recommendations

mandatory qualifications); o detail the process for managing and improving poor performance; o detail the process and timescales for supervision of practice (see regulation 33 (4) (b)) and keep appropriate records for staff in the home. The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home, and used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff – including the home’s manager. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The review [of the quality of care] should enable the registered person to identify areas of strength and possible weakness in the home’s care, which will be captured in the written report. The report should clearly identify any actions required for the next 6 months of delivery within the home and how those actions will be addressed. The

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Recommendations

whole review process and the resulting report should be used as a tool for continuous improvement in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One young person lives at the home on a solo placement arrangement. The staff have an excellent understanding of the young person’s complex needs and vulnerabilities. They provide highly individualised care to support the young person to make gradual and continuing progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff work well with external professionals, such as the specialist nurse, to identify services that can meet the young person’s health needs sensitively. Careful preparation and introductory visits mean that the young person is now able to tolerate more routine procedures to promote and maintain her physical health. Close working relationships between the home and the child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) support the young person’s emotional well-being. The staff implement guidance provided by CAMHS to provide consistent and responsive care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person engages well with a bespoke educational programme that incorporates functional skills. She now attends the provider’s educational provision for some of her classes and is interacting with other students. This helps her to develop her social skills and mix with other young people of similar ages. Inspection report children’s home: SC397987 5 The team supports the young person to visit and speak to family members regularly. This is well planned, and the staff regularly update the young person’s family on her progress. The young person also enjoys a range of activities in the home and in the community and chooses and plans what she would like to do. She is appropriately encouraged to interact with people in the community, for example workers in local shops, to develop her independence and communication skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff have the young person’s welfare and well-being at the centre of their practice. They encourage her participation in the home’s development. She regularly shops with staff and plans meals as well as making her own lunches and hot snacks. The staff promote the young person’s growing independence, encouraging increased responsibility, while ensuring that she is monitored carefully so that she is not overwhelmed.

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

The staff offer high levels of support and supervision to the vulnerable young person who lives in the home. This ensures that she is kept safe. However, the young person is also encouraged to take small steps towards increasing autonomy and responsibility. This enables her to develop her awareness and demonstrate her understanding of how to keep herself safe.

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

The staff help the young person to learn new skills, for example checking herself in for appointments and taking a lead when collecting prescriptions. This enables her to build confidence in social interactions and increase her participation outside of the home safely.

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

Staff are trained to administer medication safely. The manager ensures that all staff are aware of any changes in medication as part of a reduction programme. This ensures that the young person’s health needs are managed under the guidance of health professionals.

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

The home has excellent working relationships with external professionals from health, education and social care. The staff feel confident in seeking advice from other agencies to support the young person, providing a consistent and collaborative approach to her care and welfare.

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

Clear risk management plans provide the staff with guidance on how to manage the young person’s anxieties and behaviours. The staff recognise the signs and respond well to the young person when she becomes distressed. They provide reassurance and encourage her to reflect on her positive achievements using a ‘WOW’ board that celebrates her successes, and encourage her confidence by reinforcing ‘good thinking’. This supports the young person to manage her own emotions more effectively.

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

The team uses incentives and praise to promote the young person’s positive behaviour. Sanctions and physical intervention are not required to manage her behaviour and the young person is learning to recognise the consequences of her actions. Education Inspection report children’s home: SC397987 6 professionals note that she is beginning to be able to reflect on why she might not earn her incentives.

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

Although the young person has not gone missing from the home, the associated risk management plan does not provide the staff with specific guidance to follow should she leave the home or run away when out in the community. A member of the team was able to describe the steps she would take if this happened. However, the manager recognises that this lack of guidance would potentially compromise the young person’s safety, particularly if such an incident occurred with a new member of staff.

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

The manager has liaised with the designated officer about managing any allegations. Staff carefully record any incidents so that accurate information is shared with all safeguarding professionals.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led by an experienced and extremely child-focused registered manager. She is supporting the new deputy manager to understand the management systems and legal frameworks. Together, they are working to improve and streamline systems and recording.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager takes care to support the staff team in their well-being. This helps to maintain high standards of care and consistency for the young person. Staff reflected that they feel supported, receive regular supervision and have participated in team- building activities. Team meetings enable the staff to reflect on practice and how best to meet the needs of the young person. External professionals from education and CAMHS regularly attend team meetings to offer support and guidance, ensuring a multi-agency approach and continuity of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is currently no workforce development plan in place for the staff and manager in the home. This is a missed opportunity to identify professional development achievements and needs of the team, to meet the aims of the home’s statement of purpose. Some training records are not up to date and do not demonstrate that the staff have received training in fire awareness. However, staff have received specialist training designed to meet the young person’s specific needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has recognised that the statement of purpose requires a thorough review and revision. She is awaiting approval from senior managers before circulating the new document to relevant agencies.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is currently being refurbished, which has been ongoing for some time. In part, this is due to ensuring that the young person is not affected by too many changes in her home environment. The young person has been involved in choosing colour schemes and furniture and was supported to discuss her views with the decorators as part of developing her social skills. However, there are some outstanding maintenance issues, such as the garden gate and water coming over the guttering at the front of the house when it is raining. The bathroom would also benefit from updating. This would make the Inspection report children’s home: SC397987 7 home feel more welcoming and inviting.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

External monitoring of the home is now more robust and supports the manager’s understanding of the strengths and areas for development in the home. The manager’s internal report on the review of care would benefit from further evaluation and a clear plan of how she intends to drive forward improvements to the service.

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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: SC397987 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Fairfield Residential Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 59 Warburton Lane, Partington, Manchester M31 4NL

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Inspector

Karen Willson, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC397987 9 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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