Children's home run by Vitality Care Residential Limited

Inspection report children's home: 2501566 1 Registered provider: Vitality Care Residential Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A small private provider owns this home, which Ofsted registered in February 2019. The home offers residential placements for up to three children who have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager is experienced and suitably qualified and was registered with Ofsted in January 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 2501566 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/03/2020 Interim Improved effectiveness 05/11/2019 Full Good Inspection report children's home: 2501566 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive relationships with staff. They are cared for by staff who know them well and give them nurturing and consistent care. This was evident from the observations of children and staff during the inspection and from feedback received. Children respond well to the good care provided by staff. They told the inspector that they like the staff and that this home feels like their home. One child said she would give the home 10 out of 10.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is warm and homely, and children’s bedrooms are personalised to their taste. This enables children to invest in their home and develop a sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s written plans are detailed and regularly updated by staff. Clear plans help staff to understand children’s needs and provide them with strategies to help children to achieve positive outcomes. Staff’s ability to follow written plans and guidance has helped children to make good progress from their starting points. For one child, this has led to her going to school regularly following a six-year gap before moving into the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have a good understanding of children’s health needs, and they ensure that children attend their health appointments. Health needs for children with complex needs are fully detailed in plans, and staff understand and manage these well. This promotes children’s physical and emotional well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive regular one-to-one therapeutic support and there is good consultation between staff and therapeutic support services. The advice provided by practitioners from the therapeutic support service is implemented well by staff. This coordinated approach to children’s care has enabled children to settle and do well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to help children access leisure activities, and this has continued during periods of national lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff and children have enjoyed a range of indoor activities, such as pamper nights, baking, board games and quiz nights. Not only have these activities kept children busy, but they have helped the continued development of positive, reciprocal relationships between staff and children. Staff and children have been going to lots of outdoors activities now that restrictions have eased. Trips to a theme park, go-karting and the cinema mean that children are enjoying positive experiences in their local community and building some happy memories.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children develop good independent living skills with help from staff. Weekly tasks are set by staff in agreement with children and with their needs in mind. The simple outline of weekly tasks gives children routine and structure. This helps to prepare children for adult life. Inspection report children's home: 2501566 4 Managers work collaboratively with adult services to ensure that relevant assessments are taking place to support children’s transition planning ready for when they reach 18 years. While there has been some frustration with the time it has taken to get assessments underway, the persistence of managers has ensured steady progress. This ensures that children are helped to move on in a planned and supportive way.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have lots of opportunities to share their views. The home has a ‘Listen Up’ scheme which children use regularly to make requests and suggestions. The manager responds to children’s comments and requests promptly. Children told the inspector that they know how to make a complaint. One child was supported by the manager with a complaint about her social worker and got an outcome that she was happy with. Children are listened to and so feel valued.

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

Staff have a good understanding of the risks associated with children who go missing from care. This enables staff to work with children to reduce this concerning behaviour effectively. One child has not felt the need to go missing at all, which is fantastic progress given the high number of missing-from-care incidents for this child before moving to this home.

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

Children are generally settled and incidents involving children being verbally or physically aggressive to staff are low. When such incidents do occur, staff manage these well. Well-informed behaviour management plans give staff clear guidance to understand triggers and how to de-escalate situations.

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

When children experience struggles with their feelings and behaviour, staff help them to manage without hurting themselves. As a result, such incidents do not occur very often. When they do, caring staff support children and help them to keep calm and find alternative ways to express themselves. Staff undertake work with children to help them reflect on the incident and to remind them of the coping strategies that they can use at times of distress.

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

Staff do not routinely sanction children as a form of behaviour management. Instead, they use rewards, praise and incentives to promote positive behaviour. Staff also undertake restorative work with children to help them reflect on their behaviours and think about the impact they have on themselves and others. This helps children to develop a sense of empathy and responsibility.

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

Trained staff administer children’s medication safely. There is a good system in place for recording, storing and administering medication. The manager undertakes regular audits which allow him to have good oversight of these processes to safeguard children’s health.

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

Incidents requiring staff to restrain children to keep them safe rarely happen. Detailed incident records show that staff use physical intervention as a last resort. Following a restraint incident, reflection work with staff and children is undertaken Inspection report children's home: 2501566 5 to them to help them identify learning from the incident. The manager carries out a review of the physical intervention records, but this review lacks detail and clarity about what his view is.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers:

A suitably experienced and qualified manager has recently registered with Ofsted. The manager has good insight into the home and understands the areas for development as well as strengths. The manager has good support from leaders in the organisation and this supports his continued development as a manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers:

Staff feedback to the inspector was positive. They like working for the company and state they feel valued and supported. More than half the team are qualified; this includes the bank staff. Staff who are new to this role have been enrolled on the relevant training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers:

The manager works closely with partner agencies and ensures that regular meetings take place where they discuss children’s needs and plans. As a result, there is a co- ordinated response by agencies to ensure that children’s needs are being met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers:

Staff have good training opportunities; this includes training which is specific to the needs of the children. The provider uses support from an independent psychology service which provides training and regular consultation to staff. Good training and support mean that staff develop the skills and knowledge they need to provide good care to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers:

Staff benefit from regular and reflective supervision. New staff also have good support in place and have probation reviews. This review of practice enables staff to understand what they are doing well and identify areas of practice they need to develop. Staff who have been here longer have appraisals and their development needs are kept under review, enabling them to keep learning and progressing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers:

The manager generally has good monitoring and review systems to oversee the quality of care that children receive. However, the six-monthly quality of care review submitted to Ofsted did not include feedback from children, their families and other stakeholders to inform this review. In addition, the manager has not included a plan for continued development over the next six months. Therefore, it is not clear how the manager will use this review to as a tool for continually improving the service. Inspection report children's home: 2501566 6

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Statutory requirement

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 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.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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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”).

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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) (5)) 30 August 2021

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that his review of incidents of physical intervention are subject to regular scrutiny and analysis which consider the fairness and proportionality of such incidents. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46 paragraph 9.36’) Inspection report children's home: 2501566 7

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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: 2501566 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Vitality Care Residential Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 6 Central Avenue, Bucknal, Stoke-On-Trent, Staffordshire ST2 9AR

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Alison Fitchford-Raji

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Inspector

Shazana Jamal, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2501566 9 to 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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