Children's Home run by The Drive Care Homes Ltd in Bexley

Inspection report for children’s home: 2692918 1 Registered provider: The Drive Care Homes Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

This privately owned home provides care for up to four children with learning disabilities.

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Information about this children's home

The home and the manager registered with Ofsted on 15 September 2022.

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Information about this children's home

There were four children living at the home at the time of this inspection.

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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: 10 January 2023

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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: 2692918 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/01/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2692918 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: Good

Children’s well-being, care and development are at the centre of the home’s ethos. The staff build meaningful, warm relationships with children, which enable children to make good progress from their starting points. Staff treat children with dignity and respect. Children are given opportunities to build their self-esteem and autonomy and develop their individual identities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: Good

Children have good routines that enable them to become more independent and increase their proficiency with personal self-care skills. Children are encouraged to undertake responsibilities in the home, for example taking their plates to the kitchen after dinner. This predictable environment assists children so that their disability needs are met. One child spoke about having a personal care routine that they didn’t have before living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: Good

The staff are ambitious in ensuring that children achieve their full potential. It is testimony to the ambition and tenacity of staff that all the children attend school. Some children have been without a school place or have experienced periods of prolonged non-attendance.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: Good

The consistency of the staff team enhances the stability provided to children. Key- worker sessions take place regularly using the children’s preferred communication tools to ensure that children can communicate their wishes and any worries they may have. They are helped to understand their history and reflect on their experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: Good

Transition plans for children moving into the home are a strength. Before children move into the home, they can visit the home, see their bedroom, meet their key worker and express how they would like their bedroom to be decorated. This helps to reduce any anxiety and helps children to settle into the home. Children’s religious, cultural, dietary and identity needs are met well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: Good

Staff support children to build positive relationships with their families, which provides them with a sense of identity and belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: Good

Children’s health needs are met well. However, health and medication records are not easily accessible in children’s files. Therefore, staff do not always have access to children’s health histories. While some progress has been made since the last inspection, in relation to the recording of medication administered to children, further work is necessary.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: Good

Children have opportunities to take part in activities such as day trips to the seaside, activity-centre holidays, bowling, films, cooking and playing football. Story boards help children to understand their planned weekly activities, which creates Inspection report for children’s home: 2692918 4 predictability and a sense of belonging in the home as well as developing their social skills.

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

Children are safeguarded effectively. Staff have a good understanding of safeguarding policies and procedures.

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

Children have comprehensive and detailed behaviour support plans that staff understand and follow. Physical intervention is only used as a last resort to safeguard children. However, not all children’s care plans include sufficient detail about the care that should be provided to children.

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

Leaders and managers have implemented a model of care that supports child- centred intervention that is tailored to the needs of disabled children. Therefore, staff are confident in using techniques to distract, play and create distance and space so children remain calm. Positive behaviours are reinforced, with children responding to affirmation, which builds their confidence. The staff are attuned to the children’s needs, which ensures that incidents do not escalate.

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

Leaders and managers investigate complaints and liaise with the local authority designated officer when necessary. All staff are aware of the whistle-blowing procedures.

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

There have been no incidents of children being missing from the home since the last inspection. Children are supervised with proper levels of staffing. However, missing- from-home risk assessments and ‘grab pack’ information are basic; while staff know what to do if a child goes missing, the information to assist professionals is not sufficiently detailed.

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

Safer recruitment practices are thorough for permanent staff; for example, employment gaps are checked. No agency staff are used.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: Good

Leaders and managers are ambitious, child-centred and employ staff who are caring and nurturing. This means the home is caring for children effectively and safely. The registered manager is suitably experienced in managing residential care for disabled children and shares her expertise and child-focused principles with the committed staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: Good

Leaders are impressive with their detailed knowledge of the children and have warm relationships with them. Staff feel well supported by leaders and managers. Staff attend regular and wide-ranging training so they are up to date with developments in childcare practice. Staff meetings and supervision take place routinely, and new staff undergo a thorough induction. Inspection report for children’s home: 2692918 5 It is a tribute to the leaders and managers that permanent, consistent staffing is in place, despite the national pressure in the recruitment of residential care workers. The retention of staff is aided with training and development opportunities that support internal career progression, and the health and well-being of staff are considered. Staff are ambitious and utilise the opportunities to progress their careers and continuously improve the care provided to children. The staff work well together

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: Good

and focus on the children; therefore, the home environment is calm, fun and interactive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: Good

Leaders and managers work proactively with professionals and build positive relationships with parents. The feedback from professionals, parents and children is overwhelmingly positive. Feedback emphasised the successful and significant progress that children are making. Some children who have experienced multiple moves before moving into the home have been able to settle and make good progress. Inspection report for children’s home: 2692918 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 make arrangements for the handling, recording and safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

medicines kept in the home are stored in a secure place so as to prevent any child from having unsupervised access to them;

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Requirement Due date

medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child; and

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Requirement Due date

a record is kept of the administration of medicine to each child. (Regulation 23 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the record of the medicine administered should reconcile with the record of the medicine dispensed. 1 October 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; and

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that all children’s files contain up-to-date health information. 30 November

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff have information about missing children and information that clarifies their role and responsibilities. This includes ‘grab packs’ that provide information about the children. Missing information must Inspection report for children’s home: 2692918 7 take into account local authority protocols for responding to missing person’s incidents. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including quality standards’ page 45 paragraph 9.28 and 9.29)

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Recommendations

The registered person should ensure there is a record of the child’s care plan that highlights their individual needs and reviews their progress. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including quality standards’ page 55 paragraph 14 (b) (ii)).

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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: 2692918 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: The Drive Care Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Cyrinus House, 18 Hatherley Road, Sidcup DA14 4BG

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Inspector

Naintara Khosla, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2692918 9 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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