All inspections: Barnardo's Sutton Short Breaks

The inspection took place on 10 February 2015 and was announced. The last inspection of the service was on 2 October 2013 and there were no breaches of legal requirements at the last inspection.

Barnardo’s West London Short Breaks is a domiciliary care provider that provides personal care for children and young people. At the time of our inspection they were providing a service to 26 children or young people, who had been assessed under the Children Act 1989 as ‘children in need’ because of their disability. The children and young people that receive a service have autism, learning disabilities and behaviours that challenge. Many are unable to communicate verbally.

The service had a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Parents told us they felt confident with care workers looking after their children. Care workers knew what action to take to ensure children and young people were protected from harm. Risks to young people’s welfare had been assessed and clear guidance put in place to minimise the identified risks, be it at home or in the community.

Care workers were carefully selected at recruitment stage. The service ensured children and young people were matched with care workers who were able to meet their specific needs and interests. Care workers received appropriate training and support, and the service made sure their skills and knowledge were kept up to date.

There was an emphasis from parents and the service to provide continuity and consistency of care workers to the children and young people they provided a service to. There was a primary and secondary care worker so that children were as far as possible cared for by someone they knew.

People were encouraged to make comments and complaints about the care and support they experienced. The service had appropriate arrangements in place to deal with these effectively.

All support plans for children and young people were thorough, comprehensive and reviewed regularly. There were systems in place to monitor the safety and quality of the service. Parent’s views and experiences were continually sought about how the service could be improved and these were acted on.

Barnardo's short breaks provides a service to children and young people who have autism, severe learning difficulties and/or challenging behaviour. The service is commissioned and accessed via Sutton Social Services.

We contacted the parents of children who use the service. This was because the children themselves were not able to communicate verbally over the telephone to us to express their views of the care.

We spoke to two out of 17 sets of children that were receiving a service from Barnardo's. Both sets of parents were positive about the service they received. Comments we received included, 'he (the child) really seems comfortable around her (care worker)'..she really understands him'. Someone else told us, 'at the stage that I'm at now, I'd be lost without my worker'.I can relax with her and know he (child's name) is safe'she's professional beyond belief.'

Parents were particularly appreciative of the continuity of the care worker. They felt this gave their children consistency which was particularly important given their specific communication needs and behaviours.

Care workers we spoke to felt supported in their role. They received sufficient training and information about the young people they were working with prior to undertaking work. One care worker told us, 'I feel a valued member of staff now'.

Barnardo's short breaks provides a service to children and young people who have autism, severe learning difficulties and/or challenging behaviour. The service is commissioned and accessed via Sutton Social Services.

We contacted the parents of children who use the service. This was because the children themselves were not able to communicate verbally over the telephone to us to express their views of the care.

We spoke to two out of 17 sets of children that were receiving a service from Barnardo's. Both sets of parents were positive about the service they received. Comments included, 'I was very anxious about letting strangers look after the boys, but it was the best thing we've done' and 'four hours break is a long time, I can do so much with the other children'.

There have been recent changes within the service, both amongst the office staff and carers. This has impacted on some families more than others, although the service has had continuity via the registered manager.

Barnardo's short breaks provide a service to children and young people who have autism, severe learning difficulties and/or challenging behaviour. The service is commissioned and accessed via Sutton Social Services.

We visited this provider on the 9th July 2011 and completed a planned review of the service; the inspection took 4 hours to complete in total.

During the review, we were able to meet the registered manager who has responsibility for a number of services; the acting manager who is responsible for the day to day running of the service and has been in post a number of months; and a project manager. We also contacted a number of parents of children who receive a service, staff members and stakeholders from Sutton Social Services.

In general, we had some positive feed back from parents of the service. Comments included, 'I don't know what we'd do without them, I trust them and I don't have to worry about him'; another comment from the same parent was 'absolutely brilliant, took to her (the worker) straight away. Another parent said, 'they know him and his mood swings and what he's capable of'.

One of the stakeholders that we spoke to said, 'in the last few months we have seen an improvement with more staff who are better at dealing with complex needs.'

A positive feature of the service is the continuity of staff provided as carers for the children. Each child has a main worker who does the majority of the visits; there is then a secondary worker who covers holidays. One parent said, 'I'm always informed of changes and asked if I want anyone else'. One parent did say that 'it was hit and miss, when there were unexpected absences such as sickness.'

No formal actions or improvements plans are being requested as a result of this inspection. There have been suggested minor areas of improvement which are stated in the body of the report.

We would like to thank everyone involved in this inspection for their time and co-operation.

Archived: Barnardo's Sutton Short Breaks

All Inspections

10 February 2015

During a routine inspection

2 October 2013

During a routine inspection

26 November 2012

During a routine inspection

9 July 2011

During a routine inspection