Mills, Valerie Arbroath Inspection completed on 18 September 2015
Service provided by: Mills, Valerie Service provider number: SP2003901402 Care service number: CS2003002956 Inspection Type: Unannounced Care services in Scotland, including childminders, cannot operate unless they are registered with the Care Inspectorate. We inspect, award grades and set out improvements that must be made. We also investigate complaints about care services and 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. Contact Us Care Inspectorate Compass House 11 Riverside Drive Dundee DD1 4NY enquiries@careinspectorate.com 0345 600 9527 www.careinspectorate.com @careinspect page 2 of 17
1 Introduction Valerie Mills provides a small childminding service from her family home, which is situated in Arbroath. Minded children play and eat in the sitting room and the toilet is on the ground floor. There is a back garden for them to play in and it is fully enclosed for their safety. The childminder is experienced as a childminder and works with confidence. The childminder is registered to provide a care service to a maximum of seven children under the age of 16 years, of whom a maximum of five will be under 12, of whom no more than three are not yet attending primary school and of whom no more than one is under 12 months of age. Numbers are inclusive of children of the childminder's family. On the day of the inspection two minded children were present and one of the childminder's own teenagers. We observed the childminder as she cared for the minded children throughout the inspection. The children all gave us their views of the service as they played happily throughout the inspection and interacted confidently with the childminder and with one another. page 3 of 17
What we did during our inspection We wrote this report following an unannounced inspection which took place on 18 September 2015 between 7.30am and 9.30am. Feedback was given to the provider at the end of the inspection. As requested by us, the service sent us an annual return and a self evaluation. We sent three Care Inspectorate Questionnaires to the childminder asking her to distribute them to the parents or carers of children using the service. We received all three completed questionnaires prior to writing this report. We gathered information from various sources, including some of the service's policies, procedures, records and other documents: - children's individual records - welcome pack - parent feedback forms - child protection Training certificate - children's daily diaries/folders. We also spent time observing how the childminder interacted with the children and considered the general environment and equipment used in the provision of the childminding service both indoors and outside. page 4 of 17
Views of people using the service Comments from the children during the inspection included: "There's just me here, me by my own. I'm four already." "I'm going to build your house and play with cars." "Now the house is broken." "I like playing." "We go in the car to nursery." "I'm having lunch before nursery." "I'm hungry. I had two bananas at home." "The ice lolly helped me when I tripped." We saw that the children being looked after were very happy in the childminder's care. The childminder was nurturing and responsive to the children's needs and in her interactions with the children throughout the inspection. Comments from parents during the inspection included: "The service is fine. It's flexible. I can let Val know anything and she contacts me by text. I can text her any time with last minute changes." "I've never had any complaints. Self assessment Every year all care services complete a 'self assessment' telling us how their service is performing. We check to make sure this is accurate. Every year all care services are asked to complete a self assessment form telling us how their service is performing. The self assessment relates to Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) document which ensures that anyone providing support puts the child or young person and their family at the centre. The childminder highlighted what she thought she did well and graded her service as excellent in every area. We considered each area and our evidence did not match up with these grades. We have described the reasons for this in the inspection report. page 5 of 17
What the service did well We saw that children were looked after within a caring, environment where they were relaxed and happy. We could see that the childminder had a natural rapport with the children and they readily came to her for cuddles before returning to play. What the service could do better The childminder must ensure that she understands and implements suitable methods for positively managing children's behaviour. All incidents should be logged and shared with the parents. page 6 of 17
2 The grades we awarded We grade the quality of care and support, the quality of the environment and the quality of management and leadership. If the childminder employs an assistant, we also grade the quality of staffing. In each case, we award a grade on a scale from 1 to 6, where 1 is unsatisfactory and 6 is excellent. Quality of care and support Quality of environment Quality of staffing Quality of management and leadership 3 - Adequate 5 - Very Good not assessed 3 - Adequate 3 Quality of care and support Findings from the inspection We saw that the childminder provided adequate care and support to children and families using her service. We saw that the childminder worked with the children and their parents to promote each family's involvement in the service. At the beginning of a child's placement, parents and carers were given a welcome pack with copies of the policies and procedures when discussing the service which the childminder provided. This gave them with a clear outline of how the service worked to help ensure that the children using the service were kept safe, healthy, active, nurtured, achieving, respected, responsible and involved. We saw a relaxed, rapport between the childminder and the parents as they dropped off children during the inspection. page 7 of 17
We saw that the childminder completed Daily Diaries to supplement verbal daily feedback to communicate directly with the parents to tell them what the little ones had played with and to indicate what they had eaten for their packed lunches sent in by their parents. As a result they were kept well informed and felt part of what was going on. We saw that the children's records were well maintained with written All About Me forms ensuring that the childminder had lots of detail prior to them starting with her. She knew each child well and used the information to ensure that she provided a service which was individualised to meet their changing needs and interests. We noticed that the children made choices throughout the inspection and their preferred options of what they wanted to play with were respected by the childminder. This showed that their ideas were respected and that they were given responsibility choosing. The childminder encouraged the children to do things for themselves and to tidy up every so often, such as before having some snack. The childminder showed confidence in her work with the children. We saw that she acknowledged the children's achievements by praising them as they played. We heard that the rules of the house were very negative. The childminder told us that she was "Constantly saying no". We encouraged her to encourage the children to walk rather than 'not to run' for example. We discussed in depth with the childminder how she dealt with children's behaviour issues. She told us that she "put them in the corner" and that she used the "naughty corner for time out". We told her that the Care Inspectorate did not promote this practice and on examining her behaviour policy we saw that this procedure was not in line with her behaviour policy either. The childminder told us that the parents liked the "naughty corner for time out." We did not have any evidence that they knew of it and the behaviour policy promoted positive behaviour, which was what was being promoted to parents. The childminder told us that "the length of time" depended on the age of the child. On the one hand we were told that it wouldn't last for more than five to ten minutes but on the other we were told: "Time out doesn't start till they start to think about what they've done - even if it lasts all day." See requirement 1 page 8 of 17
We heard that one child had had an unexpected reaction to medication which had been administered. The childminder should update her medication forms to ensure that she records clearly that the child has had the medication before it is administered in the service and that her procedures conform to the latest guidance available on the Care Inspectorate website. We saw that no record of the aforementioned incident had been logged. See requirement 2 Grade The quality of care and support is graded 3 - Adequate Requirements Number of requirements - 2 1. The childminder must ensure that systems are put in place to ensure that she understands and implements suitable methods of positively managing children's behaviour. This is in order to comply with the Regulation of Care (Requirements as to Care Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2002 (Scottish Statutory Instrument 2002/114) Regulation 4(1)(a) - Welfare of Users and 7(2)(d) - Fitness of managers. Timescale for implementation: Within 24 hours of receipt of this report 2. The provider must ensure that all incidents are completed timeously and that the information is shared with parents as soon as is practicable. The provider must ensure that medication is recorded and administered accurately in line with our Health Guidance document, The Management of Medication in Daycare and Childminding Services in order to maintain the safety and wellbeing of the children. This is in order to comply with: The Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (Requirements for Care Services) Regulations 2011 SSI 2011/210 Regulation 4(1)(a) Welfare of users Timescale for implementation: Within 7 days of receipt of this report page 9 of 17
Recommendations Number of recommendations - 0 4 Quality of environment Findings from the inspection The childminding environment was of a very good standard. We found that all areas used by the children were safe, clean and smoke free. The childminder made very good use of the space available taking into account the children's ages and stages of development. Children were encouraged to select freely from the activities and resources on offer. We saw that children could play safely whilst being supervised by the childminder. We noticed that the childminder had a good understanding of child development and this was evident in the way she completed the children's diaries and spoke about their needs. She was experienced in caring for children with additional support needs. The childminder confirmed that the children could play in the garden where they could begin to learn to be responsible for their own safety within the garden boundaries. page 10 of 17
We observed a nurturing environment which provided a home from home setting for children and parents alike. The environment supported responsible play where children were encouraged to be kind to one another. With children travelling to nursery by car the childminder should be mindful that when they are not walking or in the garden they need regular opportunities for fresh air and active play to ensure that they can play and learn within a healthy environment. We saw that attendance registers were being completed. However the children were not being marked out of the service when they left for nursery nor when they returned. As a result an accurate register of who was actually within the service at all times was not being maintained. See recommendation 1 Grade The quality of environment is graded 5 - Very Good Requirements Number of requirements - 0 Recommendations Number of recommendations - 1 1. The childminder must ensure that all attendances are appropriately recorded. This is in order to comply with: The Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (Requirements for Care Services) Regulations 2011 SSI 2011/210 Regulation 4(1)(a) Welfare of users and The Regulation of Care (Requirements as to Care Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2002 SSI 2002/114 Regulation 19(3)(d) Records. Timescale for implementation: within 7 days of receipt of this report page 11 of 17
5 Quality of staffing We only assess this where the childminder employs an assistant. page 12 of 17
6 Quality of management and leadership Findings from the inspection The childminder demonstrated that she provided an adequate standard of management and leadership. Children and parents were offered a range of opportunities to participate in the assessment and improvement of the service. A parent feedback form was offered annually and we saw that the comments were positive. Comments included: "You do a great job." Since the last inspection we saw that the childminder had undertaken child protection training and she had booked to attend First Aid training next month. We saw that she had updated much of her paperwork and that she was using this to help develop her service and improve the outcomes for the children. This had included the medication forms which were ready to be put into use. The childminder was unfamiliar with the Scottish Government's initiative "Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC)" although she said that she had heard of the well-being indicators of "Safe, Healthy, Achieving, Nurtured, Active, Respected, Responsible and Included (SHANARRI)". The childminder should tale advantage of the wealth of knowledge around her about this using the information which she showed us that she had on her phone which had been sent by the Scottish Childminding Association and from the Care Inspectorate to help her keep up to date. She told us that she received literature but she did not seem to be taking advantage of what was coming into her house or what was available on the internet. We told her of the Care Inspectorate website and the Hub. Grade The quality of management and leadership is graded 3 - Adequate Requirements Number of requirements - 0 page 13 of 17
Recommendations Number of recommendations - 0 7 What the service has done to meet any recommendations or requirements we made at our last inspection Previous requirements 1. The childminder must ensure the premises are appropriate for the child minding service. To do this the child minder must carry out risk assessments on the environment and review these regularly. This is in order to comply with SSI 2011/210Regulation 10 - a regulation concerning the fitness of premises. Timescale to implementation: 4 weeks from receipt of report This requirement was made on 07 January 2014 Detailed risk assessments had been drawn up, checked last on 3.3.15. The childminder said she would update them every six months. These were slightly overdue but the childminder acknowledged this and said she planned to do them again very soon. The premises appeared safe on the day of the inspection. Met - Within Timescales 2. The child minder must carry out risk assessments on the environment and review these regularly. This is in order to comply with SSI 2011/210 Regulation 10 - a regulation concerning the fitness of premises. Timescale to implementation: 4 weeks from receipt of report. This requirement was made on 07 January 2014 We saw that the risk assessment had been undertaken thoroughly and was due to be carried out again. Met - Within Timescales page 14 of 17
Previous recommendations There are no outstanding recommendations. 8 Complaints There have been no complaints upheld since the last inspection. Details of any older upheld complaints are published at www.careinspectorate.com. 9 Enforcements No enforcement action has been taken against this care service since the last inspection 10 Other issues N.A, page 15 of 17
11 Inspection and grading history Date Type Gradings 7 Jan 2014 Announced (Short Notice) Care and support Environment Staffing Management and Leadership 5 - Very Good 4 - Good 5 - Very Good Not Assessed 10 May 2012 Announced (Short Notice) Care and support Environment Staffing Management and Leadership 5 - Very Good 4 - Good 4 - Good Not Assessed 9 Dec 2010 Announced (Short Notice) Care and support Environment Staffing Management and Leadership 4 - Good Not Assessed Not Assessed Not Assessed 1 Mar 2010 Announced (Short Notice) Care and support Environment Staffing Management and Leadership 4 - Good Not Assessed 4 - Good Not Assessed 15 Apr 2008 Care and support 3 - Adequate Environment 4 - Good Staffing 4 - Good Management and Leadership 3 - Adequate page 16 of 17
To find out more This inspection report is published by the Care Inspectorate. You can download this report and others from our website. You can also read more about our work online. Contact Us Care Inspectorate Compass House 11 Riverside Drive Dundee DD1 4NY enquiries@careinspectorate.com 0345 600 9527 www.careinspectorate.com @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 c?nain eile ma nithear iarrtas. page 17 of 17