Appendix 3 - Adult Placement Services
Perth and Kinross Council · 29 August 2022
Back to Executive Sub-Committee of the Learning and Families Committee — 29 August 2022 and its agenda
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SSupportupported Led Lodgingsodgings Adult Placement Service Youth Services (@ Scott Street) 68-86 Scott Street Perth PH2 8JW Telephone: 01738 474 580 Type of inspection: Announced (short notice) Completed on: 31 May 2022 Service provided by: Service provider number: Perth & Kinross Council SP2003003370 Service no: CS2020380027
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About the service Supported Lodgings is a an adult placement service run by Perth and Kinross Council. It recruits and supports carers to provide adult placements for young people leaving care from their local authority area and Children Alone Seeking Asylum. The service also supports carers providing Continuing Care to young people who they have previously looked after on a fostering basis. What people told us Young people were very positive about the support they were receiving from the service and we saw examples of enduring caring relationships. Carers felt well supported by staff in the service and felt that the service was committed to positive outcomes. One carer told us: "The staff really care about the work they do. The service has a positive and supportive ethos." From this inspection we evaluated this service as: In evaluating quality, we use a six point scale where 1 is unsatisfactory and 6 is excellent How well do we support people's wellbeing? 4 - Good How good is our leadership? 4 - Good How good is our staff team? 5 - Very Good How well is our care and support planned? 4 - Good Further details on the particular areas inspected are provided at the end of this report. How well do we support people's wellbeing? 4 - Good We have evaluated this key question as good where important strengths are present that outweigh areas for improvement. Young people experienced nurturing and supportive relationships with carers providing individualised care appropriate to their needs. Young people were living full lives, engaged with community resources and had access to a range of activities and learning opportunities, including group activities run by a youth resource hub. Young People's health needs were comprehensively assessed and they had access to appropriate health resources. Young people had access to counselling services and health and wellbeing workers within the Throughcare Aftercare Service supported positive mental health. Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Supported Lodgings page 2 of 7
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The service is supporting a number of Children alone seeking asylum (CASA) and has developed a range of resources to support families in meeting cultural and religious needs and understanding trauma through specific training. The service maintained close links with the Scottish Guardianship service to support young people in making claims for asylum. A training calendar that meets the needs of all carers within the service would improve levels of support and this will form an area for improvement (see area for improvement 1). Supported Lodgings carers were appropriately assessed and approved at an adult placement panel. Assessments were based on fostering assessment model and followed best practice to ensure young people in the service were safe. The service considered the needs of young people and the ability of a caregiver family to meet this prior to care arrangements commencing. For young people in Continuing Care, transitions for young people were well managed. Young people had their rights explained to them and planning began at an appropriate stage. Support for carers providing Continuing Care was less clear at the time of inspection as registration for foster carers as Continuing Care Carers was not held by the adult placement service. The service developed a revised procedure during the inspection which addressed this issue. We will follow up on the effectiveness of this at the next inspection. Areas for improvement 1. To support adult placement carers to fully support young people in their care, the provider should improve the support available to carers in particular in relation to supporting adults. This should include but is not limited to the creation of a clear programme of training to support carers to meet the needs of young people into adulthood. This is to ensure that care and support is consistent with the Health and Social Care Standards (HSCS) which state that: ‘I experience high quality care and support based on relevant evidence, guidance and best practice.’ (HSCS 4.11) How good is our leadership? 4 - Good We have evaluated this key question as good where important strengths are present that outweigh areas for improvement. Adult placement providers were assessed by an adult placement panel with a breadth of representation from a range of services in Perth and Kinross. The panel made clear recommendations and provided quality assurance to practice to ensure that young people were safe and having their needs met. The adult placement panel reviews carers after the first year and then internal reviews took place annually. A new reviewing officer is being employed by the wider Throughcare Aftercare service to review young people and their carers to ensure a robust process. The Agency Decision Maker (ADM) was not formally approving adult placement carers presented ot the adult panel and panel members did not have access to appraisal or specific development opportunities to support them in their role as panel members. The service should review it's procedures to improve the effectiveness of quality assurance procedures. This will form an area for improvement (see area for improvement 1). Reviews of Continuing Care carers had also not been undertaken due to registration of this carer type not Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Supported Lodgings page 3 of 7
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being held within the adult placement service. New procedures now clarify these procedures and will ensure that all carers are subject to approval and review to ensure that young people's needs are met. The service had experienced unplanned endings but there was no clear procedure for how learning from these would be evaluated to improve outcomes and promote service. This will form an area for improvement (see area for improvement 2). Areas for improvement 1. To ensure quality assurance provided by panel is robust, the service should review panel procedures and the role of the Agency Decision Maker. This should include but is not limited to, reviewing process for approval of adult placement carers, panel appraisal and panel member development. This is to ensure that care and support is consistent with the Health and Social Care Standards (HSCS) which state that: ‘I benefit from a culture of continuous improvement, with the organisation having robust and transparent quality assurance processes’ (HSCS 4.19). 2. To promote positive outcomes for all adults the provider should develop a reflective learning culture when unplanned endings have occurred. This should include but is not limited to a clear procedure for how unplanned endings will be reviewed with meetings that identify clear learning and action points for service improvement. This is to ensure that care and support is consistent with the Health and Social Care Standards (HSCS) which state that: ‘I receive an apology if things go wrong with my care and support or my human rights are not respected, and the organisation takes responsibility for its actions.’ (HSCS 4.4). How good is our staff team? 5 - Very Good We have evaluated this key question as very good, where there are major strengths in supporting positive outcomes for young people. Staff in the service demonstrated high levels of knowledge and skill in supporting carers and young people within the supported lodgings service. Staff had access to external Fostering Across Borders training which they delivered to carers coming forward to support Children Alone Seeking Asylum (CASA). We received positive feedback from carers in relation to the quality of support provided and saw evidence of good joint working within the service. Staff received regular supervision to support them in their role and had access to annual appraisals to explore development and future learning opportunities. The service had recently expanded predominantly to support CASA, and we noted that staff in the service had a large workload which had the potential to impact on the quality of support provided to all carers. The service is expanding the staffing in the service to ensure all carers can access regular formal supervision. Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Supported Lodgings page 4 of 7
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How well is our care and support planned? 4 - Good We have evaluated this key question as good where important strengths are present that outweigh areas for improvement. Young people's welfare assessments identified their support needs and planned for their support. Young people participated in formal reviews of their multi-agency care plans which evidenced positive joint working across services. Young people we spoke to during the inspection were positive about their experiences of care and those in continuing care benefitted from long term support from their carers that was meeting their needs. We saw examples of young people being supported to access college, employment and learning independent living skills to support them in their transition in to adulthood. We did not see examples of a individual placement plans during the inspection. The service has a "Living Together agreement" document which serves this purpose but we did not see any examples of this being used. The service should review the use of this documentation to ensure that young people in adult placements are clear on their individual care plan and expectations of their carer. This will form an area for improvement (See area for improvement 1). Areas for improvement 1. To ensure adults are included in discussions related to safer caring, the service should review its implementation of safer caring plans. This should include but not be limited to, reviewing formats of documentation and improving guidance to staff on the use of living together agreements. This is to ensure that care and support is consistent with the Health and Social Care Standards (HSCS) which state that: ‘I am as involved as I can be in agreeing and reviewing any restrictions to my independence, control and choice.’ (HSCS 2.6) Complaints There have been no complaints upheld since the last inspection. Details of any older upheld complaints are published at www.careinspectorate.com. Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Supported Lodgings page 5 of 7
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Detailed evaluations How well do we support people's wellbeing? 4 - Good 1.1 Children, young people. adults and their caregiver families experience compassion, dignity and respect 5 - Very Good 1.2 Children, young people and adults get the most out of life 5 - Very Good 1.3 Children, young people and adults' health and wellbeing benefits from the care and support they experience 5 - Very Good 1.4 Children, young people, adults and their caregiver families get the service that is right for them 4 - Good How good is our leadership? 4 - Good 2.2 Quality assurance and improvement are led well 4 - Good How good is our staff team? 5 - Very Good 3.2 Staff have the right knowledge, competence and development to support children, young people, adults and their caregiver families 5 - Very Good How well is our care and support planned? 4 - Good 5.1 Assessment and care planning reflects the outcomes and wishes of children, young people and adults 4 - Good Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Supported Lodgings page 6 of 7
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To find out more This inspection report is published by the Care Inspectorate. You can download this report and others from our website. Care services in Scotland cannot operate unless they are registered with the Care Inspectorate. We inspect, award grades and help services to improve. We also investigate complaints about care services and can take action when things aren't good enough. Please get in touch with us if you would like more information or have any concerns about a care service. You can also read more about our work online at www.careinspectorate.com Contact us Care Inspectorate Compass House 11 Riverside Drive Dundee DD1 4NY enquiries@careinspectorate.com 0345 600 9527 Find us on Facebook Twitter: @careinspect Other languages and formats This report is available in other languages and formats on request. Tha am foillseachadh seo ri fhaighinn ann an cruthannan is cànain eile ma nithear iarrtas. Inspection rInspection reporteport Inspection report for Supported Lodgings page 7 of 7