Children's Home run by The Rose Road Association in Southampton

Inspection report for children’s home: SC042446 1 SC042446 Registered provider: The Rose Road Association Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The service provides care for eight children from the age of four to 18 who have severe learning difficulties and who may have additional physical disabilities, autism spectrum disorder and/or complex health needs. The home is owned by a charitable organisation and provides short overnight breaks on a planned or occasional basis.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2016. The manager is also registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and manages care for adults with similar needs in a separate part of the building. Care staff work across both adult and children’s services. A separate report by the CQC is available for the adult service.

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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 requires improvement to be 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 November 2021

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC042446 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/11/2021 Full Good 10/02/2020 Interim Improved effectiveness 08/08/2019 Full Good 21/03/2019 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC042446 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress and they, and their parents and carers, benefit from the short breaks provided.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy positive relationships with staff, who engage them in a wide range of fun activities such as Halloween crafts, baking, swimming, and music sessions inside the home and out in the community. This gives them opportunities to mix with each other and try new things. Staff seek children’s views following their stay to review the success of these activities and to inform planning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff show children they are proud of children’s achievements and celebrate these by nominations for certificates and staff recognition.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

On the whole, staff have good relationships with parents and carers and respond professionally to any concerns. A parent who spoke to the inspector was positive about the care given to her child and the benefits this had for their family. Staff also work closely with professionals involved in the children’s care, including education staff and specialist services such as speech and language therapists.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A new working group initiative, focusing on issues such as children’s dignity and inclusion, aims to improve practice and allows staff to reflect on the care of the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are offered different meal options, reflective of their likes and dislikes and any dietary restrictions. Staff actively engage with and support those children who need assistance to eat.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff do not always ensure that confidentiality is maintained. Confidential material was left in view during the inspection, while the carers of another child were present. It is recognised that these are live documents that staff need to access easily. However, in this case, these confidential documents were accessible to people not employed to work with the children. In addition, a staff handover was carried out in a communal space while children were nearby and could overhear the discussions.

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

Children are cared for by staff who supervise them closely and have a good understanding of their needs. Staff work as a team and communicate well with each other. Health and safety toolbox talks that are sent to all staff and discussed as an agenda item in supervisions are effective in creating a learning environment.

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

Leaders and managers ensure that safeguarding remains a focus of the work. Specific themes, for example the importance of induction and the use of social Inspection report for children’s home: SC042446 4 media, are shared with staff and discussed in supervisions. The senior management group meets regularly to discuss any safeguarding or care concerns.

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

Transparent and thorough investigations have been carried out following safeguarding concerns or complaints. Senior managers completed a learning exercise, following an increase in concerns relating to the children’s care. The learning from this has been shared with the management team and staff.

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

The estates manager is experienced and diligent. He ensures that all night staff have the appropriate training and are practised in what actions to take in the event of a fire. He completes regular fire drills, ensures that any areas of improvement are addressed and disseminates any learning.

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

In most cases, the care plans and risk assessments are accurate, and staff are aware of how to implement these to care for the children. However, some risk assessments are not in line with the care plans. For example, a child’s fear of using showers was not clear in his risk assessment. One child’s care plan also stated that he needed to have a minimum amount of water intake; however, this was not consistently and clearly recorded.

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good

The service managers are experienced and committed to supporting the registered manager in her role. They, along with the registered manager, oversee the day-to- day running of the home and provide supervision and support for the assistant managers and the staff team.

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good

Managers’ monitoring and auditing processes are effective in the main, and they have identified and addressed medication errors. However, there was an occasion when staff had not followed a child’s care plan and internal monitoring processes did not identify this failing until raised by a parent.

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good

Handovers are recorded, as well as being given verbally. However, the omission of children who are going home that day from these records risks information being missed. The learning from the internal safeguarding review, in relation to the importance of handovers, is not fully embedded.

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good

One incident involving a child was not notified to Ofsted because the registered person did not consider it to be serious. The incident had a potentially significant impact on the welfare of the child, so may be considered serious; fortunately, the impact in this case was limited.

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good

The statement of purpose has been updated to reflect changes in the organisation, but Ofsted has not received the most recent copy. These are missed opportunities to evidence the positive and proactive work of the staff in relation to safeguarding Inspection report for children’s home: SC042446 5 and caring for children. In addition, this prevents the regulator from having a thorough oversight of the children’s home.

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good

Some members of the staff team are related to each other. The children’s home’s policies, including safeguarding and whistle-blowing policies, do not formalise the practice of informing staff of such relationships. Additionally, they do not give clear guidance on what actions to take if a conflict of interest were to emerge.

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good

Managers made the decision not to accept new children into the home during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are now introducing children to the home, and they have the staff available to care for them. They have recruited new staff more recently. The workforce plan has not been reviewed and updated in line with the guidance. This does not give managers the opportunity to review and record any gaps in skills, experience or knowledge and identify any training needs specific to the individual staff.

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good

Due to the need for a child to have consistent carers at home and while staying in this service, bespoke arrangements have been put in place. While these arrangements are child-centred, they do not allow for the registered manager to have full oversight of the child’s care needs. Additionally, some documents are not kept in line with the regulations. Leaders and managers have put actions in place to address this. Inspection report for children’s home: SC042446 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

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(iv)) 1 March 2023

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b)) 1 March 2023

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Requirement Due date

securely in the children’s home during the period when the child to whom the case records relate is accommodated there.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 36 (2)(c)) 1 March 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC042446 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20) The plan should: - detail the necessary management and staffing structure, (including any staff commissioned to provide health and education), the experience and qualifications of staff currently working within the staffing structure and any further training required for those staff, to enable the delivery of the home’s statement of purpose. - detail the processes and agreed timescales for staff to achieve induction, probation and any core training (such as safeguarding, health and safety and mandatory qualifications). - detail the process for managing and improving poor performance. - detail the process and timescales for supervision of practice (see regulation 33 (4) (b)) and keep appropriate records for staff in the home. The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications

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Recommendations

completed by staff while working at the home and be used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff, including the home’s manager. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person should ensure that everyone working at the home understands their roles and responsibilities and what they are authorised to decide on their own initiative. There should be clear lines of accountability. This is with specific reference to ensuring there is a policy and guidelines for responding to any emerging conflict of interest. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.20)  The registered person should ensure that, if one of the situations specified in regulation 40(4)(a)-(d) occurs, the regulator should be notified without delay. Homes must assess each case individually taking into account any patterns of

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Recommendations

behaviour or unusual behaviour which may indicate an increased risk to the child. Homes should also consider the frequency of incidents and judge whether their cumulative effect makes notification appropriate even if in isolation each event would not warrant this. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.11)

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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) Inspection report for children’s home: SC042446 8 Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. Inspection report for children’s home: SC042446 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: The Rose Road Association

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Inspector

Suzy Lemmy, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC042446 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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