Children's home run by Somerset Council in Somerset

Inspection report children’s home: SC066055 1 SC066055 Registered provider: Somerset County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This small children’s home provides overnight short-break, shared care and where appropriate permanent accommodation for children who have a wide range of needs which include complex health needs, learning difficulties and physical difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since December 2014.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

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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: 24 September 2019

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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: SC066055 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/09/2019 Full Good 04/07/2018 Full Good 22/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 24/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC066055 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive experiences in this home because the quality of relationships they have with staff are very positive. Children receive personalised care from staff who they know well and who understand their needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are in tune with the children and use alternative communication methods effectively alongside a nurturing and supportive approach. As a result, children respond positively and develop well within their individual capabilities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A child who lives in the home has made remarkable progress since he moved in earlier this year. Most notably, the child’s physical health has improved and along with this so has his self-esteem, confidence and well-being. The child’s parent, social worker, tutor and independent reviewing officer could not praise the staff more.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff celebrate children’s achievements and ensure that families and other professionals who support the children know about their successes. Personalised newsletters, certificates and photographs provide children and their families with lasting memories of time in this home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This homely, welcoming and beautifully decorated home provides children with a lovely space to live in and/or visit. The home is well resourced and provides children with the specialised equipment they need to help them with personal care and life skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy the home-cooked food and benefit from a range of activities that promote their health and well-being. Staff work effectively with physiotherapists, nurses, occupational therapists, and education providers to ensure that children’s specific needs are met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy joining in with traditional celebrations. At the time of the inspection, the home was beautifully decorated for Christmas and children were being helped to make personalised cards and gifts for their families.

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

Children demonstrate feeling safe and cared for in this home. The child who lives here told the inspector that he likes living here, he likes the staff and feels that his bed is comfy. The strong relationships this child has with staff help him to feel secure about trying new experiences.

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

Leaders and managers take the right actions when there are concerns about children or staff. They work effectively with external safeguarding partners to ensure that children and staff are safe. These effective relationships mean that there is a Inspection report children’s home: SC066055 4 shared understanding and management of risk and that care and support plans are agreed together to benefit children.

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

Staff help children effectively when they feel worried or upset. Staff understand the signs and work hard to reduce/remove triggers quickly. This helps children to feel safe and in turn reduces their anxieties. Restraint is not used in this home.

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

Leaders, managers and staff have ensured very good safeguarding practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. They have worked hard to keep children, staff and visitors safe.

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

Nurses employed by the local NHS trust work alongside the staff from this home to provide specialist overnight care for a child. Relationships between these teams are good and ensure that the right skills and expertise are provided to meet the child’s needs. Leaders and managers have made sure that these staff have disclosure and barring checks and the right training. However, they need to take more action to obtain specific details of the remaining suitability checks completed by the NHS trust.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

An experienced and competent registered manager leads this home. She provides strong leadership and aspires to do her best.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A newly formed management team supports the registered manager. Although early days, this team is already working well together to build the foundations for continuously improving this home. Leaders and managers understand how the home is performing. They use quality assurance systems effectively and take action to address recommendations from independent visitors’ reports and from consultation with stakeholders.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is scope to improve children’s records. Leaders and managers know this and are starting to individualise children’s daily records. More work is needed in this area to ensure that these records accurately capture all that staff do to meet children’s complex medical needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team is well trained and supported effectively. Supervision takes place regularly and provides staff with good opportunities to reflect on their work and find ways to make this provision better for children. Staff who contributed to this inspection said that they feel well supported by managers and each other, enjoy working in this home and feel that morale is good.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager investigates complaints and concerns about poor staff practice effectively. She seeks to understand the reasons for these concerns and ensures that the right action is taken to address them. Records relating to the actions taken to address medication errors should be improved. The central log which the registered manager uses does not document all the action taken. Inspection report children’s home: SC066055 5 Furthermore, actions are documented across several different records. This makes it hard to understand all of the actions taken.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers ensure that there are sufficient well-qualified staff to meet the children’s complex support needs. Despite some vacancies, the staff team is largely stable and provides consistent support for children. The registered manager has amended the recruitment processes to better attract new staff. Inspection report children’s home: SC066055 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 registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home,

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that records relating to the investigations into medication errors include details of all the actions taken and include a summary as to the lesson’s learned and the final outcome. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that the home’s records on each child are individualised specifically to include details of the actions staff take to check medical equipment and demonstrate that children’s medical needs are met. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5) Inspection report children’s home: SC066055 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: SC066055 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Somerset County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Taunton, Somerset TA1 4DY

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Inspector

Paula Lahey, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC066055 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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