31/33 West Kilbride Road Dalry
KA24 5HH
Telephone: 01294 833072
Type of inspection:
Unannounced Completed on:
3 April 2019
Service provided by: Service provider number:
Church of Scotland Trading as
Crossreach SP2004005785
Service no:
CS2003001134
About the service
Mount Pleasant is run by Crossreach, the operational wing of the Church of Scotland's Social Care Council and is registered with the Care Inspectorate to provide school care accommodation for a maximum of nine young people aged 11 to 18 years, who are experiencing educational, social, emotional, or behavioural difficulties.
The school care accommodation is provided at two addresses; Rockwood in Beith and Mount Pleasant in Dalry.
Mount Pleasant is inspected by the Care Inspectorate once a year. The service is also registered as an
independent school in accordance with Section 98 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 (as amended) and is subject to integrated inspections by the Care Inspectorate and Education Scotland. At the time of inspection there were three young people living in Rockwood and three in Mount Pleasant.
Mount Pleasant states that it provides homely and therapeutic environments which allow children and young people to thrive and grow. Their belief is that by putting the child at the heart of their care, they aim to provide them with a new sense of purpose, belonging and hope. They recognise the importance of having an adaptive and holistic service that meets the need of each unique and individual child and young person. The service state that their 'core and cluster' community based houses and education campus helps them achieve this.
This service has been registered since 1 April 2002.
What people told us
This inspection was undertaken during the school spring break therefore there were less young people available to speak to due to home leave or planned activities.
We shared a dinner time with two young people in Mount Pleasant and in Rockwood had an informal conversation with one young person throughout the time spent in the house.
In addition to this we received four completed care standard questionnaires.
Some of the feedback we received included the following:
"It's good, not the worst place to stay. Staff are friendly and take care of all the young people in the unit"
"The staff here are a good laugh and take care of us"
From our observations during the inspection we were able to see nurturing and caring relationships between staff and young people and there was an appropriate use of humour used in interactions.
Self assessment
A self-assessment was not requested for this inspection year, however, we spoke with the manager who provided evidence of development and practice highlights.
From this inspection we graded this service as:
Quality of care and support 5 - Very Good
Quality of environment not assessed
Quality of staffing not assessed
Quality of management and leadership 4 - Good
What the service does well
During this inspection we found evidence that young people were safe and were cared for by a nurturing, committed staff team. Relationships observed were warm and respectful. Young people were well informed about the standard of care they can expect from the service.
Care plans were individualised and child centred and photographs of young people were an additional strength to the records seen. Records were written in the style of speaking to the young people and evidenced a sensitive recording of both positives and areas of challenge for the young person. The service worked to the SHANARRI (safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible and included) wellbeing indicators from Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC). Regular audits of files ensured that case records were up to date and all changes to documents were clearly evidenced.
Daily logs and individual work records evidenced discussions and positive developments of various aspects of safety. Young people were being provided with the skills and knowledge to keep themselves safe, understand choices and make informed decisions.
Sensitively written, detailed reports were provided to Looked After Reviews so strengthening collaboration with other agencies and birth families. Young people were supported to maintain relationships with their families and staff had developed positive communication with people relevant to the young people.
Good matching systems were in place when considering new referrals and there were clear child-led introduction plans where possible.
We found that the service were providing young people with routine and boundaries. Healthy meals and a choice of activities were available and we saw that these were led by the choices of the young people.
The Who Cares? Scotland worker was a regular visitor and there was further evidence of the manager being available and open to listening to the views of young people and implementing any suggested changes. Positive outcomes were being supported as the service had developed strong relationships with multi-disciplinary
agencies such as education and health.
Positive educational outcomes were being achieved as the staff were supporting young people to attend school.
Staff were pro-active in seeking out options for young people to secure work experience with local
companies. We saw evidence of a positive approach from staff and small achievements are recognised and celebrated.
The service have been working to develop their documents for a Moving On pack which will support young people, where possible, to have key documents and independence skills in place prior to moving on from the house.
Over the course of our inspection, we looked at child protection practice and were satisfied with the procedures and practice in place to ensure service users were being protected.
The manager of the service was improvement focused and we saw a number of quality assurance measures aimed at supporting improvement.
Training provided to staff is of a high level which means that they were well equipped to care for young people. Staff reported that they were supported to attend training and records seen reflected this.
We saw the file of one new member of staff and were reassured that safer recruitment guidance had been followed and that a clear induction plan had been followed.
What the service could do better
The manager is aware of the need for an updated service development plan and was working on this at the time of inspection. Staff and young people participation was being sought to inform this.
We found that when looking at care plans and risk assessment we did not see consistent evidence of young people's participation. We asked the service to review all records to ensure this evidence is in place.
We looked at a sample of staff supervision records and found a variation in quality and frequency of these taking place. Whilst there was evidence of ample informal supervision, the service should undertake an audit of
supervision and ensure that they are following their own policies and procedures.
The service is at the early stages of implementing an annual appraisal system and progress on this will be followed up at a future inspection.
We discussed with the manager the lack of young people's meetings taking place and asked them to consider alternative methods of gathering and evidencing their views.
We discussed with the service the benefit of ensuring regular team meetings and management meetings are taking place and that these are recorded to ensure that issues and actions are monitored.
Requirements
Number of requirements: 0
Recommendations
Number of recommendations: 0
Complaints
There have been no complaints upheld since the last inspection. Details of any older upheld complaints are published at www.careinspectorate.com.
Previous requirements
There are no outstanding requirements.
Previous recommendations
There are no outstanding recommendations.
Inspection and grading history
Date Type Gradings
3 May 2018 Unannounced Care and support 5 - Very good
Environment 4 - Good
Staffing Not assessed
Management and leadership Not assessed
6 Jul 2017 Unannounced Care and support 4 - Good
Environment Not assessed
Staffing 4 - Good
Management and leadership Not assessed
15 Feb 2017 Unannounced Care and support 4 - Good
Environment 5 - Very good
Staffing Not assessed
Management and leadership Not assessed
25 Mar 2016 Unannounced Care and support 5 - Very good
Environment 5 - Very good
Staffing 5 - Very good
What the service has done to meet any requirements we made at or since the last inspection
What the service has done to meet any recommendations we
made at or since the last inspection
Date Type Gradings
Management and leadership 5 - Very good
10 Mar 2015 Unannounced Care and support 5 - Very good
Environment 5 - Very good
Staffing 5 - Very good
Management and leadership 5 - Very good
31 Jan 2013 Unannounced Care and support 4 - Good
Environment Not assessed
Staffing 4 - Good
Management and leadership 4 - Good
14 Jul 2014 Unannounced Care and support 5 - Very good
Environment 5 - Very good
Staffing 5 - Very good
Management and leadership 5 - Very good
24 Mar 2014 Announced (short
notice) Care and support 5 - Very good
Environment 5 - Very good
Staffing 4 - Good
Management and leadership 4 - Good
22 Aug 2013 Unannounced Care and support 5 - Very good
Environment 4 - Good
Staffing 5 - Very good
Management and leadership 4 - Good
31 Oct 2012 Unannounced Care and support 4 - Good
Environment 4 - Good
Staffing 4 - Good
Management and leadership Not assessed
17 Jun 2011 Unannounced Care and support 4 - Good
Environment 4 - Good
Staffing Not assessed
Management and leadership Not assessed
30 Sep 2010 Announced Care and support 3 - Adequate
Environment Not assessed
Staffing Not assessed
Date Type Gradings
Management and leadership 4 - Good
2 Mar 2010 Unannounced Care and support 4 - Good
Environment Not assessed
Staffing 4 - Good
Management and leadership Not assessed
27 Nov 2009 Announced Care and support 4 - Good
Environment 3 - Adequate
Staffing 4 - Good
Management and leadership 3 - Adequate
10 Jul 2008 Unannounced Care and support 4 - Good
Environment Not assessed
Staffing Not assessed
Management and leadership 3 - Adequate
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.
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