THE Jersey Care Commission has acknowledged improvements achieved in the running of a secure children’s home, but also highlighted several areas where further work is required.
In a recent report, the Commission has cited a recent temporary closure of the facility, which caters for up to four children, as playing a key role in allowing a re-set that has had a positive impact on staff morale and the care provided to residents.
Prior to the temporary closure, the report cited challenges mentioned by staff, including staff shortages, burnout, discontentment, and a lack of visible leadership.
The report, based on three inspections carried out over a six-day period in late July and early August, noted that these issues had “affected staff morale and cohesion and contributed to increased incidents, including restrictive interventions and complaints or allegations from young people about the care they received”.
Following the re-set, it was noted that a new manager was in place, working with staff to re-establish the ethos of the home to encompass “core themes of compassion, dignity, and respect”, and to carry out essential training.
The Commission concluded that “these actions have resulted in improved staff morale, more confidence in the leadership and improvement in the consistency of care delivery”.
The officer carrying out the inspection described observing young people to be relaxed, and said “interactions with care staff were warm and jovial”.
Ongoing areas for improvement included a requirement to carry out regular fire drills, ensure staff completed mandatory training sessions and suitable inductions, and to make it easier for health professionals to access the health records of the young people they were treating.
The home is also required to “adopt and embed a formal trauma-informed practice model overseen by a trained professional”.
The Commission has also published a separate report for another home that accommodates two children, based on three inspections that took place in June and July of this year.
While acknowledging that the home was secure, utilising “dynamic risk assessments and safeguarding measures”, the report noted that staff had reported fatigue and inconsistent completion of check-lists.
Positive feedback from the relatives of residents was noted, describing the facility as being clean and tidy and having a homely environment, with the ability for bedrooms to be personalise, although one respondent said it was a frustration that window restrictors were not routinely fitted.
Three specific areas for improvement at the second home were highlighted:
- Documenting recruitment and ensuring that the working week of staff members did not exceed 48 hours.
- Providing a better level of supervision in order to ensure staff training needs were met.
- Training staff in trauma-informed care.
