Children's Home run by Nottinghamshire County Council in Nottinghamshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC036737 1 SC036737 Registered provider: Nottinghamshire County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a local authority children’s home that provides residential care and a short break service for up to 16 children and young people with disabilities and complex healthcare needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has a suitably experienced manager.

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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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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: Outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC036737 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/05/2019 Full Outstanding 16/07/2018 Full Outstanding 16/11/2017 Full Outstanding 17/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC036737 3

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outstanding

Children make sustained and often exceptional progress. Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, children have continued to make significant strides in their development. Strong multi-agency arrangements ensure that children’s plans are progressed, and staff find innovative ways to support children to reach their goals and aspirations. For example, one of the children was reliant on their wheelchair for mobility. Staff encouraged and supported the child to progress with their walking plan. For this child, the impact of this level of support on their independence is life changing.

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outstanding

Children continued to have family time during the pandemic. Staff were creative and flexible in their approach. They enabled children to see and speak with family at home in a planned and safe way.

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outstanding

All children are supported and encouraged to lead fulfilling lives. Managers and staff remove all barriers that might prevent disabled children meeting their goals and aspirations. They are helped to follow their interests, such as boxing and horse riding. Children have also been included in the plans to redesign and change the functions of rooms within this home. Senior managers have supported these changes.

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outstanding

Encouraging children to use their own way of communicating is a significant strength of this home. They are fully involved in decision-making about their lives and futures. They are asked to provide regular feedback about their care. They also attend their reviews and are encouraged to give their views and input in relation to care planning. For example, at his review, one child was supported to draw a picture to depict his future aspirations.

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outstanding

Preparing children for independence is a strength. Children are continuously encouraged and supported to develop life skills. One child is increasing their independence with regards to eating. This independence plan is shared with the school, which supports consistency. Managers ensure that all of the children’s care plans are shared widely with those involved in the children’s care, including families. This promotes joint working to support progression in all aspects of children’s lives.

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outstanding

Staff share their interests and skills with children. This helps strong bonds and trust to be developed between children and staff. These trusting relationships are essential, due to the personal nature of the care that staff provide to children to support their physical and healthcare needs.

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outstanding

The home environment reflects the physical space that is needed for children who use a wheelchair for independence. Children have been involved in plans to redesign Inspection report for children’s home: SC036737 4 some rooms at this home. This helps ensure that children’s changing care needs are met.

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

Managers and staff have a high level of knowledge, understanding and skills to safeguard children. When concerns are raised, managers ensure that lessons are learned. Outcomes from the review of incidents are then shared widely with the staff team. This means that children are safer.

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

Managers and staff have an excellent understanding of how all of the children communicate. They understand the additional vulnerabilities for this group of children. Staff are offered extensive training opportunities; this provides them with the skills in all aspects of alternative communication methods. They have specific training on how to safeguard disabled children and young people.

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

Children can make a complaint if they are dissatisfied about any aspect of their care. Due to one complaint about access to a communal area, significant structural changes are to be made. This means that all children can access all areas of their home. This is important. It means that children are confident that they will be heard, and that they can affect change, regardless of the complex nature of their disability and communication.

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

Support to families is excellent. Families of children having short breaks have been offered extended stays at times of crisis. Managers have ensured that the service maintains a high degree of flexibility. This means they can meet the fluctuating needs of the families they support.

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

Children have not gone missing from this home. However, there has been a change in the range of disabilities that this home can accommodate. Children might not have a physical disability but might still have different areas of vulnerability and risk. Information for staff about what to do if a child goes missing from the home could be improved, with the addition of key contacts.

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

Care plans and risk assessments are detailed. They explain children’s complex care needs. They are regularly audited by a manager. However, these audits have not always been effective. For one child, audits have not identified what measures staff should take when there is a significant healthcare risk. While this information may be documented elsewhere, having the information in one place provides important clarity for staff.

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

Managers have not ensured that the regular audits of the environment fully identify areas that need improvement. In one bedroom, a potential risk for a child had been identified and steps had been taken to reduce the risk, but the matter had not been fully assessed and rectified by the appropriate professional in a timely manner.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Inspection report for children’s home: SC036737 5 Leadership and management arrangements are good. The registered manager has a great passion, and has high ambitions for all children. The culture and ethos of the home is that all children, regardless of their abilities or disabilities, can reach their full potential.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say they enjoy working at this home. They say they are well trained and supported by their colleagues and by managers. Staff go the extra mile to ensure that they get to know the children, including their interests and hobbies. Staff enjoy sharing their own interests with the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers ensure that staff are highly trained and capable. Some of this training is child specific and delivered by health professionals. This is often due to the very complex physical disabilities and healthcare needs. Managers’ and staff’s attention to healthcare needs has been recognised with an award. Healthcare outcomes for the children improve at this home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers ensure that staff receive regular and effective supervision. This supervision enables managers to support staff, identify training needs and monitor the quality of care provided to children. However, staff are not routinely asked whether they have any safeguarding concerns in relation to the care of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Effective partnership working with stakeholders, particularly health professionals, ensures that appropriate care is provided to children and their families. Stakeholders say that the home has good communication with families, and relationships are built around trust. Communication with the placing authority is also effective.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have not ensured that internal quality assurance processes address all potential areas of risk, and areas for development, as detailed previously. This means that leaders and managers do not have a thorough grasp of where improvements need to be made to ensure that they continue to provide outstanding care. Inspection report for children’s home: SC036737 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meet the needs of their children. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislation (alarms, food hygiene); however, in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  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. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that is helpful to the child. (‘Guide to children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision which allows them to reflect on their practice and

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Recommendations

the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and the placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risk on a day-to-day basis. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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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 for children’s home: SC036737 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Nottinghamshire County Council, County Hall, Loughborough Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham NG2 7QP

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Inspector

Simon Hunter, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC036737 8 regulates and inspects 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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