11 December 2009 Inspection Report 2009-10: Day Care of

Inspection report

Inverness College Nursery (Longman)Day Care of ChildrenLongman Building3 Longman RoadInvernessIV1 1SA01463 273549

Inspected by: Judith R. MacDonald(Care Commission officer)

Type of inspection: Unannounced

Inspection completed on: 2 November 2009

Contents

Page Number

Summary of this inspection report 3

Section 1: IntroductionAbout the Care Commission 5About the National Care Standards 6What is inspection? 7How we decided what to inspect 9What is grading? 10About the service we inspected? 11How we inspected this service 12

Section 2: The inspection 15

Section 3: Other informationOther Information 21Summary of Grades 22Terms we use in our reports and what they mean 23How you can use this report 25People who use care services, their relatives and carers 25

Service provided by:Inverness College

Service provider number:SP2003001802

Care service number:CS2003008616

Contact details for the Care Commission officer who inspected this service:

Judith R. MacDonaldTelephone 01463 227630Email [email protected]

Inverness College Nursery (Longman), page 2 of 26

Easy read summary of this inspection report

We grade all the Quality Statements for a service at each inspection.Each grade describes how well we think the service is doing based on whatwe inspected.

We can choose from six grades:

We gave the service these grades

Quality of Care and Support Very Good

Quality of Environment N/A

Quality of Staffing Very Good

Quality of Management and Leadership N/A

This inspection report and grades are our assessment of the quality of howthe service is performing in the areas we examined during this inspection.

Grades for this care service may change after this inspection due to otherregulatory activity; for example, if we have to take enforcement action toimprove the service, or if we investigate and agree with a complaintsomeone makes about the service.

What the service does wellThe service offers full day care to babies, toddlers, pre-school children andholiday care. The service has a warm and welcoming ethos confirmed bycomments from parents. Children were well motivated. The service issuedcomprehensive questionnaires to parents and evaluated them and tookaction. Staff consulted well with parents and children. The nursery wasgetting children outdoors regularly.


There was good team work amongst staff.

What the service could do betterThe service should continue with current good practice.

What the service has done since the last inspectionThe service has continued to involve parents and children in giving theirviews and making choices.

ConclusionThe aims of the service included working in partnership with parents,providing good quality childcare in a safe and happy environment wherechildren have a range of stimulating and enjoyable learning opportunities.The Care Commission Officer saw evidence the manager and staff wereworking to achieve these aims.

Who did this inspection

Lead Care Commission OfficerJudith R. MacDonald

Other Care Commission Officers

Lay Assessor

Please read all of this report so that you canunderstand the full findings of this inspection.


About the Care Commission

We were set up in April 2002 to regulate and improve care services in Scotland.

Regulation involves:

• registering new services• inspecting services• investigating complaints• taking enforcement action, when necessary, to improve care services.

We regulate around 15,000 services each year. Many are childminders, children'sdaycare services such as nurseries, and care home services. We regulate many otherkinds of services, ranging from nurse agencies to independent healthcare such ashospices and private hospitals.

We regulate services for the very young right through to those for the very old. Our workcan, therefore, affect the lives of most people in Scotland.

All our work is about improving the quality of care services.

We produce thousands of inspection reports every year; all are published on ourwebsite: www.carecommission.com. Reports include any complaints we investigate andimprovements that we ask services to make.

The "Care services" area of our website also:

• allows you to search for information, such as reports, about the services weregulate

• has information for the people and organisations who provide care services• has guidance on looking for and using care services in Scotland.

You can also get in touch with us if you would like more detailed information.


About the National Care Standards

The National Care Standards (NCS) set out the standards that people who use careservices in Scotland should expect. The aim is to make sure that you receive the samehigh quality of service no matter where you live.

Different types of service have different National Care Standards. When we inspect acare service we take into account the National Care Standards that the service shouldprovide.

The Scottish Government publishes copies of the National Care Standards online at:www.scotland.gov.uk

You can get printed copies free from:

Blackwells Bookshop53-62 South Bridge EdinburghEH1 1YSTelephone: 0131 662 8283Email: [email protected]


What is inspection?

Our inspectors, known as Care Commission Officers (CCOs), check care servicesregularly to make sure that they are meeting the needs of the people in their care.

One of the ways we check on services is to carry out inspections. We may turn upwithout telling the service's staff in advance. This is so we can see how good the care ison a normal day. We inspect some types of services more often than others.

When we inspect a service, typically we:

• talk to people who use the service, their carers and families, staff and managers• talk to individuals and groups• have a good look around and check what quality of care is being provided• look at the activities happening on the day• examine things like records and files, if we need to• find out if people get choices, such as food, choosing a key worker and

controlling their own spending money.

We also use lay assessors during some inspections. These are volunteers who haveused care services or have helped to care for someone who has used care services.

We write out an inspection report after gathering the information. The report describeshow things are and whether anything needs to change.

Our work must reflect the following laws and guidelines:

• the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001• regulations made under this Act• the National Care Standards, which set out standards of care that people should

be able to expect to receive from a care service.

This means that when we register or inspect a service we make sure it meets therequirements of the 2001 Act. We also take into account the National Care Standardsthat apply to it.

If we find a service is not meeting these standards, the 2001 Act gives us powers thatrequire the service to improve.


Recommendations, requirements and complaintsIf we are concerned about some aspect of a service, or think it could do more to improveits service, we may make a requirement or recommendation.

• A recommendation is a statement that sets out actions the care service providershould take to improve or develop the quality of the service but where failure todo so will not directly result in enforcement.

• A requirement is a statement which sets out what is required of a care service tocomply with the Act and Regulations or Orders made under the Act, or acondition of registration. Where there are breaches of the Regulations, Orders orconditions, a requirement must be made. Requirements are legally enforceableat the discretion of the Care Commission.

Complaints: We have a complaints procedure for dealing with any complaint about aregistered care service (or about us). Anyone can raise a concern with us - people usingthe service, their family and friends, carers and staff.

We investigate all complaints. Depending on how complex it is, a complaint may be:

• upheld - where we agree there is a problem to be resolved• not upheld - where we don't find a problem• partially upheld - where we agree with some elements of the complaint but not all

of them.


How we decided what to inspect

Why we have different levels of inspectionWe target our inspections. This means we spend less time with services we are satisfiedare working hard to provide consistently high standards of care. We call these low-intensity inspections. Services where there is more concern receive more intenseinspections. We call these medium or high intensity inspections.

How we decide the level of inspectionWhen planning an inspection, our inspectors, or Care Commission Officers (CCOs)carefully assess how intensively each service needs to be inspected. They do this byconsidering issues such as:

• complaints• changes to how the service provides care• any notifications the service has given us, such as the absence of a manager• what action the service has taken in response to requirements we have made.

The CCO will also consider how the service responded to situations and issues: forexample how it deals with complaints, or notifies us about incidents such as the death ofsomeone using the service.

Our inspections take account of:

• areas of care that we are particularly interested in (these are called InspectionFocus Areas)

• the National Care Standards that the service should be providing• recommendations and requirements that we made in earlier inspections• any complaints and other regulatory activity, such as enforcement actions we

have taken to improve the service.


What is grading?

We grade each service under Quality Themes which for most services are:

• Quality of Care and support: how the service meets the needs of eachindividual in its care

• Quality of environment: the environment within the service (for example, is theservice clean, is it set out well, is it easy to access by people who usewheelchairs?);

• Quality of staffing: the quality of the care staff, including their qualifications andtraining

• Quality of management and leadership: how the service is managed and howit develops to meet the needs of the people it cares for

• Quality of information: this is how the service looks after information andmanages record keeping safely.

Each of the Quality Themes has a number of Quality Statements in it, which we grade.

We grade each heading as follows:

We do not give one overall grade.

How grading works.Services assess themselves using guidance that we given them. Our inspectors take thisinto account when they inspect and grade the service. We have the final say on grading.

The Quality Themes for this service type are explained in section 2 The Inspection.


About the service we inspected

The service operates from accommodation within Inverness College Longman. Theservice is registered to provide a care service to a maximum of 24 children aged 0 yearsto those not attending primary school. The nursery consists of a large playroom,appropriate toilet facilities, kitchen area, separate sleeping area for babies and a largesecure outside play area.

We registered the service on 01 April 2002.

The service offers childcare predominantly for children of students and staff of InvernessCollege.

Based on the findings of this inspection this service has been awarded the followinggrades:

Quality of Care and Support 5 - Very GoodQuality of Environment N/AQuality of Staffing 5 - Very GoodQuality of Management and Leadership N/A

This inspection report and grades are our assessment of the quality of how the service isperforming in the areas we examined during this inspection.

Grades for this care service may change after this inspection due to other regulatoryactivity; for example, if we have to take enforcement action to improve the service, or ifwe investigate and agree with a complaint someone makes about the service.

You can use the "Care services" area of our website (www.carecommission.com) to findthe most up-to-date grades for this service.


How we inspected this service

What level of inspection did we make this serviceIn this service we carried out a low intensity inspection. We carry out these inspectionswhen we are satisfied that services are working hard to provide consistently highstandards of care.

What activities did we undertake during the inspectionEvidence was gathered from a number of sources including:

a review of a range of policies, procedures, records and other documentation, includingthe following:supporting evidence from self assessmentcare standards questionnairesservice informationchild protection statementinformation to parentsinsurance and certificateinfection control documentationparent's questionnaireschildren's questionnairesstaff questionnairesrisk assessmentshealthy eating statementconfidentialityhealth and safety documentationtraining certificatesteam meeting minutescomplaints procedureaccident recordingobservation of practiceexamination of the environment and equipmentdiscussion with manager, staff and children.

Six staff recruitment files and discussion with Human Resources.

Inspection Focus Areas (IFAs)Each year we identify an area, or areas, we want to focus on during our inspections. Westill inspect all the normal areas of a care service; these are extra checks we make for aspecific reason.

For 2009/10 we will focus on:

• Meaningful activity for all adult services


• How care services assess the health of people with learning disabilities• Involving parents for children's services• Medication for looked after children for residential accommodation for children• How care services make sure they have safe recruitment procedures for staff for

all services except childminders.

You can find out more about these from our website www.carecommission.com.

Fire safety issuesThe Care Commission no longer reports on matters of fire safety as part of its regulatoryfunction. Where significant fire safety issues become apparent, we will alert the relevantFire and Rescue service to their existence in order that it may act as it considersappropriate. Care service providers can find more information about their legalresponsibilities in this area at: www.infoscotland.com/firelaw

The annual returnWe use annual returns (ARs) to:

• make sure we have up-to-date, accurate information about care services; and• decide how we will inspect services.

By law every registered care service must send us an annual return and provide us withthe information we have requested. The relevant law is the Regulation of Care Act(Scotland) 2001, Section 25(1). These forms must be returned to us between 6 Januaryand 28 February 2009.

Annual Return ReceivedYes - Electronic

Comments on Self AssessmentThe Care Commission received a fully completed self assessment document from theservice provider. We were satisfied with the way the service provider had completed thisand with the relevant information they had given us for each of headings that we gradethem under.

Taking the views of people using the care service into accountChild friendly questionnaires had also been used to provide children with an opportunityto express their views.

The children in nursery were well motivated and confident. They played well in smallgroups and individually.


Taking carers' views into accountCare Standards questionnaires expressed the parents overall satisfaction with theservice. Positive comments were seen within service and carestandards questionnaires.

Nine parents returned care standards questionnaires. Six strongly agreed and threeagreed they were satisified with the overall care provided.


Quality Theme 1: Quality of Care and SupportGrade awarded for this theme: 5 - Very Good

Statement 1We ensure that service users and carers participate in assessing andimproving the quality of the care and support provided by the service.

Service StrengthsThe service used various methods to ensure parents and children were involved in theassessment and improving the quality of service.

A full and very informative welcome handbook and formal registration session withindividual parents gave clear guidance and the aims and objectives clearly stated theservice aimed to establish effective partnership with parents, essential to good consistentcare for children to help them develop and learn. Comprehensive policies andprocedures on aspects of care and support were available to parents. Nursery andcollege policies were also available on-line.

The service had both informal and formal ways of consulting children and parents toassess and improve the quality of care and support provided. Parents were invited to anintroductory evening. The service informed parents about their child's progress throughday to day discussions at drop off and pick up and more formal parents meetings andreports for all children each term. Daily diaries informed parents of babies and toddlersroutines and the manager stressed she would happily continue this method ofcommunication with older children where a parent felt it beneficial.

Positive parent/staff relationships were promoted through staff/parent meetings held fourtimes each year. A parent representative was appointed. All parents were invited andminutes emailed. There were several dates in the year when families could participate inactivities such as fun days, sports days, stay and play, concerts and the parents helpedfund raising for the nursery.

Parents' and children's questionnaires were issued and the manager carried out a veryuseful evaluation and feedback to parents. Regular newsletters were informative.

The foyer contained notice boards displaying policies and procedures, previousinspection reports, weekly plans, menu, staff information, childcare information andphotographs of various activities children had been involved in. A suggestion box was inplace.

Staff used a communication notebook to record any comments made by parents andnotes to help consistent care.


The Care Commission Officer saw staff asking older children questions and discussingtopics throughout the session. There was a wide range of resources, well labelled andaccessible.

The key worker system was effective and profiles well kept.

Photographs of activities and children's work were well displayed.

Parent commented "very happy with Longman never had any problems. My child'sdevelopment has definitely improved".

Areas for ImprovementThe manager would continue promoting participation with parents. She intended to useIT more to keep in touch with parents. Staff meeting agendas were already emailed toparents.

Grade awarded for this statement5 - Very Good

Number of requirements0

Number of recommendations0


Statement 3We ensure that service user's health and wellbeing needs are met.

Service StrengthsA detailed statement of aims and comprehensive nursery policies covered all aspects toensure children's health and well being.

The key worker system ensured continuity of care for children. Daily diaries outlinedroutines for parents information such as sleep times, nappy changes, food taken andactivities for the day.

Staff carried out good practice in infection control using disposable gloves and apronswhen toileting and nappy changing and ensured good hand hygiene. Children were alsoevidenced to be encouraged to follow good hand hygiene procedures before eating andafter toileting and tooth brushing.

There was a detailed policy on child protection and staff understood their responsibilitiesto protect children from harm. All staff attended in-house training on child protection on arolling programme. The service had copies of the Children's Charter, FrameworkStandards for Child Protection and the Area Interagency Child Protection CommitteeGuidelines. Safe Strong and Free project and road safety were part of the annualcurriculum.

Children had suitable opportunities to sleep or rest. The sleep room was monitored andquiet areas provided for older children.

Professionals visited the nursery e.g. oral hygienist and health visitor to support goodpractice.

A policy on storage and administration of medication was in place.

A healthy eating policy was in place and staff accessed best practice guidance. Healthysnacks and meals were displayed on the notice board for parents. Drinking water wasavailable to children at all times throughout the day. Staff sat with the children at snackand lunch times to support them. Hot food was transported in insulated boxes from thecollege kitchens and food probed by staff ensured temperatures were correct andrecorded.

Children went directly from the playroom for outdoor play in a well equipped safe areawhich provided opportunities for children to climb, balance and use a selection ofwheeled toys. There was a small garden area for children to help plant and grow flowersand vegetables. There was a sun house used for play.


Areas for ImprovementThe manager had identified within the self assessment the need to ensure all staff attendtraining in food hygiene and representatives would attend citizenship training.

The manager identified within the self assessment that all staff were to attend acurriculum for excellence training and implement in line with local authority guidelines.

Staff were keen to provide more outdoor experiences for children.


Number of Requirements0

Number of Recommendations0


Quality Theme 3: Quality of StaffingGrade awarded for this theme: 5 - Very Good

Statement 1We ensure that service users and carers participate in assessing andimproving the quality of staffing in the service.

Service StrengthsThe comments in 1.1 were repeated for this statement. We received nine carestandards questionnaires. The service's own questionnaires also indicated staff wereinvolved in assessing and improving the quality of the staffing within the service.

Areas for ImprovementThe service would continue to ensure parents were well informed and givenopportunities to express their views on the quality of staff within the nursery.

Of the nine care standards questionnaires received two parents said they did not agreethey were confident there were always enough staff to provide good quality care. Themanager stated she would address issues raised regarding staffing.

Comments included " I am very happy with the high standard of care. The staff provide ahappy, relaxed yet stimulating environment" " my child has formed a close bond with hercarers and the other children".





Statement 2We are confident that our staff have been recruited, and inducted, in a safeand robust manner to protect service users and staff.

Service StrengthsThe Care Commission Officer looked at six staff files to see how effectively the serviceimplemented safer recruitment which was an inspection focus area for 2009/10. Shespoke with human resources section who carry out the recruitment procedures for thenursery.

There was a corporate recruitment procedure.

Procedures included an application form, with details of experience and qualificationsand medical self declaration. It requested an enhanced disclosure and two references,one of which must be the candidate's most recent employer.

Staff obtained their disclosure before commencing work. The service implemented 3yearly checks as part of safe recruitment procedure. The service understood theresponsibilities to check professional registers.The Care Commission Officer was satisfied recruitment processes were safe andensured staff employed were able to meet the needs of service users

Management and senior care staff were registered with Scottish Social Services Counciland registration would be ongoing recognising required timescales.

Regular supervision and appraisal gave opportunities to assess training required for theforthcoming year.Room monitoring was in place.

Areas for ImprovementThe manager would provide an index within the induction programme. Verbal ortelephone references should be followed with written references. The service shouldensure the recruitment policy specify procedures following best practice guidancedocument Safer recruitment for better recruitment - Scottish Executive.





Other Information

Complaints

Enforcements

Additional Information

Action PlanFailure to submit an appropriate action plan within the required timescale, including anyagreed extension, where requirements and recommendations have been made, willresult in the Care Commission re-grading the Quality Statement within the Managementand Leadership Theme as unsatisfactory (1). This will result in the Quality Theme forManagement and Leadership being re-graded as Unsatisfactory (1).


Summary of Grades

Quality of Care and Support - 5 - Very Good

Statement 1 5 - Very Good


Quality of Environment - Not Assessed

Quality of Staffing - 5 - Very Good



Quality of Management and Leadership - Not Assessed

Inspection and Grading History

Date Type Gradings

5 Aug 2008 Announced (shortnotice)

Care and support 5 - Very GoodEnvironment 5 - Very GoodStaffing 5 - Very GoodManagement andLeadership 5 - Very Good


Terms we use in our report and what they mean

Action Plan - When we inspect a service, or investigate a complaint and the inspectionreport highlights an area for improvement; either through recommendations orrequirements, the action plan sets out the actions the service will take in response.

Best practice statements/guidelines - This describes practices that have been shownto work best and to be achievable in specific areas of care. They are intended to guidepractice and promote a consistent and cohesive approach to care.

Care Service - A service that provides care and is registered with us.

Complaints - We have a complaints procedure for dealing with any complaint about aregistered care service or about us. Anyone can raise a concern with us - people usinghe service, their family and friends, carers and staff.

We investigate all complaints which can have more than one outcome. Depending onhow complex the complaint is, the outcomes can be:

• upheld - where we agree there is a problem to be resolved• not upheld - where we don't find a problem• partially upheld - where we agree with some elements of the complaint but not all

of them.

Enforcement - To protect people who use care services, the Regulation of Care(Scotland) Act 2001 gives the Care Commission powers to enforce the law. This meanswe can vary or impose new conditions of registration, which may restrict how a serviceoperates. We can also serve an improvement notice on a service provider to make themimprove their service within a set timescale. If they do not make these improvements wecould issue a cancellation notice and cancel their registration.

Disclosure Scotland- Disclosure Scotland provides an accurate and responsivedisclosure service to enhance security, public safety and protect the vulnerable insociety. There are three types or levels of disclosure (i.e. criminal record check) availablefrom Disclosure Scotland; basic, standard and enhanced. An enhanced check is requiredfor people whose work regularly involves caring for, training, supervising or being in solecharge of children or adults at risk; or to register for child minding, day care and to act asfoster parents or carers.

Participation - This describes processes that allow individuals and groups to developand agree programmes, policy and procedures.


Personal Plan - This is a plan of how support and care will be provided. The plan isagreed between the person using the service (or their representative, or both of them)and the service provider. It is sometimes called a care plan mostly by local authorities orhealth boards when they commission care for people.


How you can use this report

Our inspection reports give care services detailed information about what they are doingwell and not so well. We want them to use our reports to improve the services theyprovide if they need to.

Care services should share our inspection reports with the people who use their service,their families and carers. They can do this in many ways, for example by discussing withthem what they plan to do next or by making sure our report is easily available.

People who use care services, their relatives andcarers

We encourage you to read this report and hope that you find the information helpfulwhen making a decision on whether or not to use the care service we have inspected. Ifyou, or a family member or friend, are already using a care service, it is important thatyou know we have inspected that service and what we found. You may find it helpful toread previous inspection reports about his service.


The Care CommissionWe use the information we gather from all our inspections to report to Scottish Ministers on howwell Scotland's care services are performing. This information helps us to influence importantchanges they may make about how care services are provided.

Reader InformationThis inspection report is published by the Care Commission. It is for use by the general public.You can get more copies of this report and others by downloading it from our websitewww.carecommission.com or by telephoning 0845 603 0890.

Translations and alternative formats

Telephone: 0845 603 0890Telephone: 0845 603 0890Email: [email protected]: [email protected]: www.carecommission.comWeb: www.carecommission.com


Documents

11 December 2009 Inspection Report 2009-10: Day Care of