Children's Home run by Isle of Wight Council in Isle of Wight

Inspection report children’s home: SC395944 1 SC395944 Registered provider: Isle of Wight Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and run by the local authority. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to 10 children who have learning disabilities. It provides both short- and long-stay placements. The manager was registered with Ofsted on 1 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 requires improvement to be 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: 14 November 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC395944 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/11/2018 Full Good 15/08/2017 Full Good 09/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 30/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC395944 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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— the premises used for the purpose of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (2)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that maintenance contracts do not hinder timely and/or immediate responses to maintenance work requested by the registered manager, and that more planned long-term works are not unnecessarily delayed by the provider. 30/12/2019

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review about the children’s home, the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating— the quality of care provided, and any actions the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. (Regulation 45 (2)(a)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, improve the oversight of catering arrangements and staff consistency in completing debriefs following physical interventions. 30/12/2019

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who use this service are making good progress. The requires improvement judgement given to the leadership and management of the home does not impact negatively on their current experiences and progress. However, the provider’s commitment to invest in the environment of the service is not happening quickly enough. This may impact on their experiences in the future. Inspection report children’s home: SC395944 4 The children enjoy their stays at the service, whether it be for a short-break stay or a more permanent stay. There is clear definition between living areas and staffing teams for those who access short-stay breaks and those who live permanently in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children and their families or carers receive a warm welcome when they visit the home. After a day at school, the children are greeted by the staff with a smile and a very warm welcome. Good planning arrangements enable the staff to be very well informed and prepared about each child. They know the children’s needs, likes and dislikes and plan for a smooth arrival for the children. Those children who live permanently at the home can integrate and enjoy time with children who come for a short stay, and some have formed good friendships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children attend school or another appropriate educational provision. They are learning and making good progress. The staff are ambitious for children and support them to attend and do well in their education. Staff liaise well with schools. For those who find attending school difficult, a bespoke education plan is put in place, with a continual drive and focus on accessing a school placement in the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The consistent and good-quality care that children receive is critical to their experiences, progress and development. This is achieved through a wide range of additional experiences, including interaction with peers, opportunities to develop their independence skills and being able to participate in local community provisions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children’s healthcare is overseen by a qualified children’s nurse. She provides high- quality input into children’s increasingly complex health needs. Both physical and mental health needs are identified, with good links to local specialist provisions when needed. There are excellent working relationships between the staff and external medical professionals, including specialist community nurses and paediatricians. This means the children are well cared for by experienced, well-informed staff who are trained to deliver health tasks. The registered manager is aware of the increasingly complex health needs of some children and the need to continually monitor the service’s compatibility with their Ofsted registration, and if there is a need for a joint registration with the Care Quality Commission. Medication administration and auditing processes are strong.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s participation is an area that the registered manager and staff team have focused on developing since the last inspection. For example, more colourful and child- friendly display boards can be seen around the home as can more sensory experiences, such as touch boards. This is an area that is being continually developed. Overall, participation has greatly improved.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

On the last day of this inspection, the children were enjoying Halloween celebrations, and all appeared to be having lots of fun, with fabulous fancy-dress costumes and smiling faces. The children are treated with dignity and respect. They are not disadvantaged or socially isolated. Their differences are embraced and celebrated, and they feel free to express their individuality without fear or judgement. Inspection report children’s home: SC395944 5

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

The children are protected by a staff team that has a good understanding and knowledge of safeguarding practices. The staff team members are aware of the increased vulnerabilities for the children in their care. Risk assessments inform individual plans and guide staff on how to manage them, which staff do well.

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

The registered manager and his two deputies have undertaken training to enable them to lead and manage safeguarding or child protection concerns. They have good links with local authorities, designated safeguarding officers and other important safeguarding agencies. The staff are clear about, and follow, procedures for identifying and responding to concerns about the safety of the children. Concerns are shared with external agencies for quick intervention that protects children from further risk or harm. All internal investigations are undertaken to a good standard, with outcomes shared with the appropriate agency, all in accordance with statutory guidance.

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

For those children who have complex health needs, the necessary safety arrangements are in place. Medical information is clearly recorded and accessible to staff to ensure children’s safe healthcare. Emergency protocols are in place that inform staff of action to take and are written and regularly updated by appropriately qualified health professionals.

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

The children are supervised according to their needs, abilities and cognitive understanding. They do not have the chance to go missing due to their close supervision. However, the staff are aware of the missing from home policy and procedures to follow, if necessary. Children do not have unsupervised access to the internet, which means risks are decreased. Those children who have mobile phones are closely observed and any concern raised is quickly addressed.

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

The staff understand children’s different ways of communicating, both verbal and non- verbal. They know when a child is relaxed or getting anxious. When needed, the staff use safe and effective de-escalation methods and creative strategies in preventing escalation of challenging behaviours. For their own safety or for that of others, the staff may use a physical intervention. The recording of physical interventions has improved greatly. However, a few records lacked detail of debriefs for both the children and staff following an intervention. The home’s use of visual surveillance is thought through, consented and managed well.

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

The staff undertake regular health and safety checks, supported by external service checks. The registered manager faces unnecessary challenges in getting some maintenance works completed. The service contracts that are in place do not always allow for a timely response to problems. For example, a hoist to assist children into a bath has been out of action since June 2019. In practice this does not impact on the children as there are other bathrooms with safe working hoists that meet all the children’s bathing needs. However, it does show a lack of urgency in addressing maintenance issues. Inspection report children’s home: SC395944 6 Recruitment procedures are robust and meet the required standard. This means that children are cared for by adults who have been properly checked and have gone through a robust selection process. However, records refer to checks being carried out as a criminal records check (CRB) rather than a disclosure and barring check (DBS).

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

The registered manager has suitable experience and qualifications to fulfil his role. He has an excellent understanding of the children’s needs, with a clear focus on the children’s participation and rights. In the past year, he has focused on the service’s development plan. However, some areas in the plan have been hindered by the lack of a timely response by the provider, the local authority. Overall, the registered manager has had a very positive impact on the service and he holds a clear vision for the service. However, he is being hindered by the slow response of the provider to the works needed to develop the environment.

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

The monitoring systems require improving. In general, the registered manager has created good systems to ensure close oversight. However, this inspection showed that he has failed to monitor the impact of a vacancy for a cook and the impact this has on the catering checks.

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

The home is properly staffed and adequately resourced. The registered manager has good oversight of the staffing team, with a newly promoted assistant manager taking his support team to two assistant managers, one for short breaks and one for the permanent provision. Staff have warm and positive relationships with parents and carers. This means that families feel confident leaving their child for their stay and they understand what the service can offer. The staff are visible and keep parents informed about their child’s stay at the home.

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

Leaders and managers use learning from practice and feedback to improve the experiences and care of the children, including, for example, direct testimony from children, parents, carers, professionals and other stakeholders. Leaders learn from complaints, staff feedback and any serious events. They identify strengths and areas for improvement and implement clear development plans that continually improve the experiences of children. Robust action is taken to address any issues of concern, including concerns or complaints from children. Effective action has been taken to address all the requirements and recommendations from previous inspections. Inspection report children’s home: SC395944 7

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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: SC395944 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Isle of Wight Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, High Street, Newport, Isle of Wight PO30 1UD

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Inspector

Liz Driver: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC395944 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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