Children's Home run by Fairways Care (UK) Limited in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

Inspection report children's home: SC391708 1 SC391708 Registered provider: Fairways Care (UK) Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned children’s home is operated by a charitable organisation. The charity provides a range of residential, fostering, educational and training services. The home provides care for up to three children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in March 2019.

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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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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 30 September 2020 to carry out an assurance visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 22 January 2020

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Sustained effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children's home: SC391708 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/01/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness 24/06/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 19/04/2018 Full Good 31/05/2017 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC391708 3

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improvement to be good

Outcomes for children are mixed. Children are not consistently provided with continuity of care from adults who know them well. In the last four months, the home has suffered significant staffing shortages. As a result, the registered manager has relied on bank and agency staff to meet children’s care needs. These temporary staff do not always know the children well or have the skills and experience to meet their needs.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, the registered manager agreed placement in the home for one child whose complex needs and behaviours they could not meet. The registered manager took immediate action and requested that the child’s placing authority seek alternative accommodation for this child. During this period, several staff left, and the two children that remain living in the home became unsettled.

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improvement to be good

Children live in a home that is well maintained, warm and welcoming. Children’s bedrooms are individualised to their personal taste and preference. Despite this, not all children receive the support they need to maintain a clean and tidy room.

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improvement to be good

Children are supported well to maintain their relationships with family and friends. As a result, children’s relationships with family members are strengthening. A social worker commented positively about how well the home communicates with them and family members. The same social worker commented positively about the work the registered manager and team have completed with one child to ensure his planned move into foster care was seamless and subsequently successful.

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improvement to be good

Children experience a positive move into and out of this home. The registered manager ensures that before moving into the home, children are provided with an opportunity to meet the adults who will care for them. Similarly, when children leave the home, part of their leaving gift is a memory book that contains information about their time living at the home, the special people they have grown attached to and the experiences and opportunities they have had.

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improvement to be good

Staff have access to internal care plans and risk assessments. These documents align with the local authority plans and provide staff with a basic overview of the child’s history and needs. Despite this, the internal care plans do not reflect the children’s current and changing needs. Similarly, risk assessments do not provide temporary staff with clear guidance on what they need to do when children are at risk of harm or potential exploitation. Inspection report children's home: SC391708 4 In recent months, missing-from-home incidents have increased for one child. Protocols in place inform staff what actions they need to take when a child goes missing. Despite this, these protocols do not confirm what actions staff should take when the child is not in their care and goes missing. Immediate action was taken during the inspection to rectify this.

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improvement to be good

To manage some children’s behaviours, staff have had to use physical interventions. Interventions have been used as a last resort and for a limited period. After an incident, discussions are held with children and staff. Despite this good work, the manager has not consistently used these opportunities to explore how the child felt about being held, nor has she enabled staff to reflect on their practice to prevent reoccurrence.

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improvement to be good

Children are looked after by adults who are assessed as safe. Recruitment checks on agency staff are completed by the organisation’s human resources department. However, information obtained is not sufficient for the registered manager to be assured that agency workers have the skills and experience to meet the needs of the children they will be looking after.

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improvement to be good

The storage and management of medication is safe. Audits are effective, and errors are identified and quickly rectified.

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good

The registered manager and her team recognise that the staffing shortages have had a negative impact on the quality of care and support children have received. In response, they have worked additional hours alongside temporary staff, to ensure the children have access to one adult who knows them well and who they have a trusting relationship with.

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good

Since the assurance inspection in September 2020, and because of COVID-19 restrictions, not all staff are up to date with basic mandatory and specialist training. The manager is taking appropriate action to remedy this.

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good

The registered manager and her team receive regular formal supervision. Team meetings take place regularly and attendance is good. Despite this, the registered managers’ supervision records do not always detail the discussions held; they do not reflect the managers’ work, or the impact that staffing shortages are having on the children and staff.

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good

In general, the quality of recording is appropriate, and the content of children’s records reflect their day. Despite this, terminology used by some staff lacks descriptive meaning and has the potential to stigmatise children. The registered manager is working closely with her team to remedy this practice. Inspection report children's home: SC391708 5 Monitoring of this home by the independent person and manager has not been effective. They have failed to identify and report on the negative impact that staff shortages are having on children’s welfare and well-being. Inspection report children's home: SC391708 6

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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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably.

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Requirement Due date

ensure that any care that is arranged or provided for a child that—

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Requirement Due date

satisfies the conditions in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

that the care is delivered by a person who—

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Requirement Due date

has the experience, knowledge and skills to deliver that care. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(vii)(d) (3)(c)(i)

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to leaders and managers ensuring there are sufficient permanent staff to meet the care needs of the children. 30 September Inspection report children's home: SC391708 7 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

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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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and

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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)(a)(c)(d)(f)(g)(i)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that the manager’s and independent visitor’s monitoring are effective. 30 September

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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 help each child to access and contribute to the records kept by the registered person in relation to the child. (Regulation 14 (2)(f)) 30 September Inspection report children's home: SC391708 8 In particular, ensure that children’s internal care plans and risk assessments detail the children’s current needs and risks and ensure that they include children’s views and contributions.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development. (Regulation 33 (4)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, all staff should complete all the basic mandatory training and specialist courses to meet the needs of the children they care for. 30 September

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that records of staff supervision are of a good quality and reflect the discussions held. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)

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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: SC391708 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Fairways Care (UK) Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Fair Ways, Ground Floor, Building 1000, Western Road, Portsmouth, Hampshire PO6 3EZ

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Inspectors

Sharron Escott, Social Care Inspector Kendra Bell, Her Majesty’s Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC391708 10 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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