Children's Home run by Barnardo’s in Oxfordshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC069128 1 SC069128 Registered provider: Barnardo’s

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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 service caters for a maximum of seven children at any one time, including one emergency bed. It provides a residential short-break service for children who are disabled. The service is provided by a national charity in partnership with a local authority. Most of the children using the service have complex health needs. The manager has been registered with Ofsted since November 2019.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 19 to 20 November 2019

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC069128 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/03/2019 Full Good 28/06/2017 Full Good 16/01/2017 Full Good 31/05/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC069128 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 leadership and management standard requires the registered person to— ensure that the home has enough staff to provide care for each child. (Regulation 13 (2)(d)) 02/02/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— the privacy of children is appropriately protected; is necessary and proportionate; any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises— is kept under review and, if necessary, revised. (Regulation 21 (a)(c)(ii)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that any surveillance arrangements are kept under regular review to ensure that each use is justified and proportionate. 02/02/2020

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Recommendations

 As set out in regulations 31–33, the registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. (Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1) In particular, ensure that the staff receive regular supervision that covers all areas of their role, and provides a system for tracking the work undertaken to meet agreed actions.  The design of the home should include any necessary adaptation to meet the needs of children with disabilities or specific health issues. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.24) Inspection report children’s home: SC069128 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive attuned and nurturing care from staff who know them very well. Staff help the children to take part in new activities and experiences. Children enjoy a range of social and recreational opportunities, for play and fun, or quiet time in the snoozlem (sensory room). Thoughtful and child-centred planning ensures that the children enjoy their stays at the home. Staff seek out creative ways to match each child’s interests. Children are supported to pursue a range of activities in the home, and in the community. Staff recognise that engagement in the wider community enhances the children’s life experiences, enjoyment and well-being. Compassionate staff deliver care with dignity and respect. Children appear happy, and staff are attentive to their needs. Staff offer the children choices, and encourage them to take part in day-to-day decisions. Consequently, the children develop confidence. Themed activities are planned with flexibility, for the children to access at their own level

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

and pace. Events such as the forthcoming Christmas fair open up the home to the children’s families and friends. This adds to the children’s sense of belonging, and provides fun activities for all the family to join in. Staff collate individual photo albums as part of the children’s journey during their stay at the home. This informs part of their life story, and also charts out the children’s progress during their time at the home.

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

Staff have a good knowledge and understanding of safeguarding. They are confident about what action to take if they have a concern about a child. Safeguarding training is tailored to the needs of the children. As a result, the staff have awareness of the additional vulnerabilities and risks for children with disabilities. Behaviour management is effective. The staff nurture and encourage children to behave well. They use praise and encouragement, and spend meaningful time with the children. When the children become distressed or worried, staff use their knowledge of the children to comfort them. This is effective, and helps to reduce children’s anxiety. The home benefits from a dedicated cook. She joins the afternoon handover meetings to ensure that the children’s nutritional needs are catered for. Particular attention is given to any religious dietary requirements. Meal choices reflect the children’s likes and dislikes,

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

with plenty of opportunities for the children to sample different tastes and foods. Child-centred plans are personalised to reflect their individual needs. Staff update plans, following changes in the children’s behaviour or circumstances. This helps to ensure that staff practice is current, and responsive to the changing needs of the children. Staff possess appropriate skills, knowledge and expertise in the safe use of medicines. Effective and safe systems are in place for the staff to manage and administer medicines to the children. This reduces the risk of medication errors and misunderstandings. Individual risk assessments set out the arrangements for surveillance measures used in the home. However, they lack detail of the specified purpose and the arrangements for Inspection report children’s home: SC069128 5 review. As a result, these measures are not scrutinised to ensure that they are justified

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

and proportionate, taking into account each child’s right for privacy.

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

The home continues to experience recruitment problems, and staffing vacancies have increased since the last inspection. Despite initiatives taken by the registered manager and senior leaders, staffing remains a challenge, and remains a repeat requirement. The shortage of staff does not impact on the quality of care. However, it does affect the number of short breaks available and the home’s ability to respond to emergency requests. The standard of household maintenance is variable. The Jacuzzi is currently broken, and some outside play equipment needs replacing or mending. Delays in the response to maintenance requests mean that the quality of the children’s day-to-day experience is diminished, as they are not able to fully access all the facilities the home has to offer. Not all staff have received regular supervision. This has resulted in a lack of oversight of their performance and development. This shortfall impacts on the registered manager’s

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

ability to appraise practice and ensure consistent quality of care. Nevertheless, the staff spoke positively about the support that they receive. Children who stay at the home have complex healthcare needs. These are fulfilled by the well-trained staff in the home, who work alongside the nursing staff. Staff benefit from the organisation’s training programme, which provides a good range of relevant topics. Core and additional specialist training is through a mix of face-to face and online formats. Consequently, staff develop expertise to meet the specific needs of the children. Parents and professionals are positive about how the staff work with them, and appreciative of the service. The staff promote equality, and celebrate diversity. They help the children to develop a sense of equality and tolerance of others. Staff practice towards children reflects these values.

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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: SC069128 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Head Office, Tanners Lane, Barkingside, Ilford, Essex IG6 1QG

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Inspector

Anne-Marie Davies, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC069128 7 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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