Behind the Inspection Rating: Separation helps home harmony

A lot has happened at Beaulieu House since Ofsted inspected it in April 2013. Back then there was no separation between the respite and residential services offered by the Isle of Wight home, which caters for young people with severe learning and physical disabilities.

But the arrangement, which meant that children on short stays shared the same area as those living there, was causing problems. "It was one complete unit and it was causing conflict between the young people," says Margaret Hanney, team manager at Beaulieu House.

The home's solution was to divide its work into two distinct units - one for respite care, the other for residential. Each unit now has its own staff and a door prevents the young people moving between the two services.

The change has had plenty of benefits for the children, says Hanney. "The young people in residential now know where they are and are not having young people intruding into their area so they are more settled. There is also more continuity of staff, and more focus on their life skills and ability to aspire and live a life of their choice," she says. "Meanwhile, the respite young people now clearly see that they are coming in for a short time."

The change wasn't without its challenges. Having two units meant more staff were needed and for a time those extra posts had to be filled with agency carers. But now - as Ofsted notes in its latest inspection, which found the home offered outstanding care and was "good" overall - the home has a "no temporary staff" policy.

The decision to stop using agency workers was all about giving young people consistency. "Since then we've been recruiting, recruiting, recruiting," she says. "We've now got a very good and consistent staff team. The young people in residential now know which staff work with them and which staff are coming in because it's all planned and there are photographs showing them who is here each day."

It also helps with consistency because having permanent staff means that everyone working with the children and young people at the home is aware of the home's policies, ways of working and the children's behaviour and care plans.

One thing that helped the service fill its vacancies at a time when social care services are becoming increasingly reliant on temporary staff was its links with the charity Friends of Beaulieu House.

While the home is owned and run by Isle of Wight Council, it also gets financial support from the charity, which is well-known on the island thanks to its fundraising activities. "Friends of Beaulieu are out and about a lot so people do know of Beaulieu," says Hanney. "So when we put an advert out we get quite a lot of responses so we are able to shortlist candidates, which is brilliant."

The support of the Friends of Beaulieu also helps the home offer services over and above the statutory requirements. "We're lucky with Friends of Beaulieu - they will fundraise to provide the additional things that we would like, for example they've just funded a sensory room for us," she says. "They won't provide something that a local authority should but they support us with the nicer things in life."

FACT FILE

• Name: Beaulieu House
• Location: Newport, Isle of Wight
• Description: Beaulieu House is a children's home that offers short-break and long-term respite care for children and young people with severe learning difficulties and/or physical disabilities. The home is run by Isle of Wight Council but also receives additional financial support from the Friends of Beaulieu House, a local charity whose patron is Mark King, singer and bassist with the band Level 42.
• Number of children: Up to 10 young people aged eight to 17, of which six are residential places.
• Ofsted inspection number: SC395944

HELPFUL HINTS

• Think Velcro. Although Beaulieu House's premises were purpose-built, Ofsted noted that it is a hard building to make homely and so was full of praise for how the service had worked to improve matters. "We have very disruptive young people, very challenging young people that do bash the doors and bash the walls and make big holes in them," says Margaret Hanney, team manager at Beaulieu House. The solution has been to think carefully about the furnishings the home uses to create a home that is more colourful and inviting as well as being capable of taking a beating. "For example we can't always have the curtains in place that we would like because they get pulled off so many times. But we found a way of getting round that by having the curtains on quick-release Velcro."
• Assess your leadership. When seeking to improve a service, thinking carefully about leadership is crucial, says Hanney. "I think you need to look at your leadership and start unpicking what isn't in place," she says. "It might be not having an effective role model, it may be that there is lots and lots of paperwork that hasn't been caught up with or the staff team need a good shake."