Children's home run by Action for Children

Inspection report for children’s home: 1266835 1 Registered provider: Action for Children Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides short breaks for children aged between eight and 18 who may have a learning disability and/or complex health needs. The home provides care for up to five children at any given time. The home is owned and operated by a national organisation. At the time of this inspection, one child was visiting the home for a short break.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since April 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 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 for children’s home: 1266835 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/03/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness 15/12/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 11/02/2020 Interim Declined in effectiveness 05/08/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1266835 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy their short breaks at the home. Staff support children’s interests and help them to try new things. Consequently, children take part in a range of fun activities in the home and in the community. At the end of each child’s stay, staff gather feedback from the child on what they did and did not enjoy about their visit and then use this information to plan the child’s next stay.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s daily diaries and achievement records provide a detailed story of children’s visits to the home. These documents provide a lovely memento of the progress children make.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from the comfortable and relaxing home the staff have provided. The extensive space is well equipped, specially adapted and used well. The kitchen with adjustable-height cooker and work surfaces provides children with the opportunity to cook, enhancing their independence skills. In the extensive paddock, wheelchair-accessible play equipment provides all of the children with a safe and exciting place to play and explore.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have strong and effective relationships with the children and their families. They know the children well, understand each child’s needs and how these are to be met. Children’s records provide clear guidance for staff. However, not all ‘This is me plans’ have been reviewed regularly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff shortages remain an ongoing issue. This has led some short-break stays being cancelled.

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

Staff receive regular safeguarding training and demonstrate an understanding of their duty of care to keep children safe. Staff appropriately reported a safeguarding concern relating to medication administration to senior managers. Managers undertook a thorough investigation into this concern, lessons were learned and subsequent actions taken to prevent another incident. However, this incident was not notified to Ofsted as it should have been.

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

Staff follow detailed support plans and manage children’s behaviour well. They know each child well so they can identify subtle signs of a child being upset and respond with empathy and sensitivity. This positive approach means that restraint has not been used since the previous inspection.

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

Incident records are generally of a good quality. However, staff are not consistently gathering meaningful feedback from children after an incident has happened. In addition, some staff are declining a debrief after an incident, which prevents opportunities to review practice and identify learning. Inspection report for children’s home: 1266835 4 Risk assessments are of a good quality and are in place for the use of specialist equipment, such as oxygen. These assessments identify the risk and actions taken to reduce and/or remove the risk. Staff follow these plans in practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have a realistic understanding of the service. The manager monitors the quality of care and knows the home’s strengths and the areas for improvement. Leaders and managers are continuing to work on staffing sufficiency issues. They carry out exit interviews with staff who leave and use this feedback to inform subsequent recruitment and retention actions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is appropriately qualified and experienced for the role. Staff, parents and social workers provided positive feedback on the manager. The manager is supportive, approachable and focused on improving the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Care staff receive good-quality supervision. This provides them with a good opportunity to reflect on their practice, discuss any issues and identify training needs. Agency nurses who work specifically with one child receive clinical supervision as required but not an opportunity to reflect with the manager on their work in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive appropriate training to enable them to meet the needs of the children. Staff discuss their learning from this training in team meetings to share knowledge and experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are very positive about the support they receive from the manager and their peers. They are proud of the team and how they have all pulled together for the best for the children in relation to staff shortages. Staff talk about the children with warmth and pride.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

At present, the manager does not maintain a register of children who have accessed or are currently accessing short breaks at the home as required.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Reports by the independent visitor do not support the manager well enough in the development of the home. Actions set often lack detail regarding improvement needed. The independent visitor does not consistently or clearly state in each report if the children are safeguarded effectively, and their well-being is promoted as required. In addition, the duration of these visit is often limited.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The quality of the manager’s six-monthly review of the quality of care has improved but can develop further. The report does not provide a clear plan of further appropriate improvements going forward. Inspection report for children’s home: 1266835 5

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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 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 promotes their welfare.

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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

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

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to 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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (1) (2)(c)(d)(e)(f)(h)) 30 September

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 22 August 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 1266835 6 In particular, the registered person should ensure that regular agency nursing staff receive practice-related supervision.

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date; and

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Requirement Due date

retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry.

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Requirement Due date

A record in the form of a register showing in respect of each child—

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Requirement Due date

the date of the child’s admission to the children’s home;

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Requirement Due date

the date on which the child ceased to be accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

the child’s address immediately before being accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

the child’s address on leaving the home;

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Requirement Due date

the statutory provision (if any) under which the child is accommodated.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) Schedule 4 (1)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)) 30 July2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child—

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Requirement Due date

is instigated; or 22 July 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 1266835 7 concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious.

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires; and

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Requirement Due date

to inspect the premises of the home and such of the home’s records (except for a child’s case records, unless the child and the child’s placing authority consent) as the independent person requires.

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Requirement Due date

A visit by the independent person to the home may be unannounced.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit (“the independent person’s report”) which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether—

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Requirement Due date

children are effectively safeguarded; and

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Requirement Due date

the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being. The independent person’s report may recommend actions that the registered person may take in relation to the home and timescales within which the registered person must consider whether or not to take those actions.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 44 (2)(a)(b) (3) (4)(a)(b) (5)) 31 August 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children’s plans are reviewed regularly. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)  The registered person should ensure that meaningful conversations are held with children and the staff involved after an incident. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.1) Inspection report for children’s home: 1266835 8

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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: 1266835 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Action for Children

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 3 The Boulevard, Ascot Road, Watford WD18 8AG

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Inspector

Wendy Anderson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1266835 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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