Children's home run by Devon County Council

Inspection report children's home: 2530021 1 Registered provider: Devon County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

The home is owned and managed by a local authority and registered to provide care for up to three children, primarily as a short-break service. The children may have a physical and/or learning disability and/or sensory impairment.

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Information about this children's home

The home is managed by an experienced and qualified registered manager.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 2530021 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/07/2022 Full Good 09/03/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness 05/10/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 05/02/2020 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children's home: 2530021 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from visiting this short break home. Staff have a wealth of expertise at supporting children with disabilities and complex communication needs. Staff consult effectively with parents and others and spend quality time getting to know children. Consequently, staff understand children’s individual needs and personalities exceptionally well and strong positive relationships are formed with children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Support and outcome plans are helpful documents that evidence the depth of understanding staff have about children’s needs. Their preferences, nuances in presentation and communication are comprehensively documented with a clear focus on children’s positive attributes and what they can achieve. Currently, these documents are written in the first person when not all children have contributed to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children happily visit the home and have good positive experiences. One parent said that when it is time for their child to visit the home ‘his face lights up, he punches the air and says ‘yes’’! One child told the inspector the names of the staff that he particularly likes and explained the reason was because they make him laugh. This child’s parent says that the child’s confidence and ability to interact with new people has grown because of the quality of these positive relationships and interactions by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make progress in this home. Staff identify ‘ambitious outcome’ goals for children and give them lots of opportunities to achieve them. Notably, children’s communication, independence and confidence have developed. ‘Positive moment celebrations’ capture the children’s experiences and achievements towards meeting their goals. Staff celebrated a child’s recent achievement, reporting that the child ‘was very patient and kind when it came time to taking turns with another child watching the television and blowing up balloons and when sharing the table for dinner’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff appropriately adapt the environment to ensure it meets children’s individual needs. At times, this results in a minimalistic environment with few of the ‘soft furnishing’ type items you would typically find in a family home. Staff return the home to a more homely style when other children visit. However, the overall design and many fixtures/fittings of the home are commercial in style and detract from the warm atmosphere in the home brought about by staff’s personalities and love for the children. The quality of the environment has been raised at the last three full inspections and by the independent person. Although some improvements have been made, this is not sufficient to ensure the home is homely and domestic in style. Inspection report children's home: 2530021 4

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

Staff understand what makes children feel anxious or unhappy. They prepare the environment, themselves and activities in advance in order to reduce triggers and risks and enable children to engage well during their visits. When children do get upset, staff quickly take the right actions to help children to communicate their feelings and find ways to help reduce their anxiety.

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

Staff make good use of alternative forms of communication including signing, communication devices and social stories to help children to manage changes in their routine and when needed, develop socially acceptable behaviours. Clear routines, helpful boundaries and regular use of sensory activities are put in place that help children to feel secure.

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

Staff work hard to keep children safe in this home. They understand the additional vulnerabilities of children with disabilities and keep detailed records about children’s visits and when incidents happen. Children are observed and spoken with after incidents to make sure they are safe. Incident records are scrutinised by leaders and managers and discussed in team meetings so the team can identify ways to help children in the future. Staff have fallen into the habit of using the term ‘dysregulated’ to describe times when children feel anxious or upset. This phrase is also often used in records and fails to describe the full range of children’s presentation.

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

At times, staff have to use restrictive practices to help children to stay safe. This may include locking away items and the use of audio monitors. These practices are kept under close review and discussed and agreed with an external good practice committee. Restraint is rarely used. When it is, the least restrictive option is deployed and for the shortest time to make the situation safe.

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

Environmental safety in the home is currently being compromised by the time it is taking an external partner to address the points the registered manager has identified on the fire risk assessment. Action was taken during the inspection to escalate this to ensure work is completed swiftly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s effective leadership skills are enhanced by her clinical expertise as a registered learning disability nurse. The manager regularly works alongside staff and children and uses these opportunities to coach and guide staff. This makes for a well-run home with a staff team that has a depth of knowledge and well-developed practical skills that support children with complex needs effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Quality assurance activities have increased and improved since the last inspection. Regular audits of the quality of care take place, alongside self-assessment against the inspection framework and quality standards. Leaders and managers benchmark their work in the home against others in the group, enabling constructive challenge and helpful peer review. Consequently, leaders and managers have an accurate Inspection report children's home: 2530021 5 understanding of how the home is performing and know where they need to drive improvement. Development plans are drawn up and actions taken in response. Currently, this helpful oversight is not yet included in the formal quality of care review that is sent to Ofsted, nor does it include evidence of the consultation with stakeholders that takes place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The well qualified team has a wealth of experience and skill at supporting children with complex disabilities. This is a positive team that supports and challenges one another effectively. Staff recognise when colleagues are working well and celebrate these moments. Staff are well supported and trained for their role. Team meetings and supervision are used effectively to reflect on practice, talk about the children and identify ways to support them better.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Parents and professionals who contributed to this inspection said they cannot speak more highly of the service. They describe it as a home from home where they are confident their children are safe and well cared for. Good partnership working with parents and professionals means that children receive consistency of care following agreed planned approaches. Inspection report children's home: 2530021 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

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

meet the needs of each child; and enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that the home provides a homely domestic style environment throughout. In addition, the registered person should ensure that urgent action is taken to address the points identified on the fire risk assessment. 1 December 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should review the practice of writing children’s plans in the first-person narrative and review the ongoing use of the term 'dysregulated' to ensure that all information in children's records is recorded in a way that is helpful to the child and accurately reflects their views. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5)  The registered person should ensure that the next quality of care review includes evidence of consultation with stakeholders and identifies any actions required for the next six months of delivery in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4) Inspection report children's home: 2530021 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: 2530021 8

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Devon County Council, Chief Executive's Directorate, County Hall, Topsham Road, Exeter, EX2 4QD

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Inspector

Paula Lahey, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2530021 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 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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