"Excessive restraint" used at Rifford Road Children's Centre in Exeter

"Excessive and inappropriate" restraint was used in a Devon County Council-run children's home, an Ofsted report has found. Inspectors discovered that unacceptable practices were used at the Rifford Road care home in Exeter. The report comes just months after Ofsted inspectors found child protection services in the county were also inadequate – the lowest of four rankings available.

The children's home provides planned and emergency short-term care for up to seven young people who have emotional or behavioural difficulties. At the time of the report there were four boys aged 12 to 17 staying at the home. Three of these have since been moved out.

The Ofsted inspector, who visited in the home in July, said she found there was a "high number of physical interventions." The inspector found staff did not "always use effective de-escalation techniques", which sometimes led to an escalation of behaviour.

"The use of restraint has increased and high level restraints are used, including prone positioning," the report said. "Many of these are judged to be inappropriate and excessive." The report also stated staff did not "adequately follow up" any injuries suffered during a restraint.

Councillor Will Mumford, the Council’s Cabinet member with responsibility for children’s social care says it’s not good enough but that “Risk assessments for each of the three residents, as individuals and as a group, have been conducted, and I am confident that they are safe and being well cared for.

“New management is in place, and we are assessing the competences of the staff team and talking to them about the concerns raised."

Cllr Richard Westlake , Labour Group Leader at Devon County Council stated:

“We will be demanding answers after the home's rating dropped from good to inadequate in just six months, and to get these we will be asking for a full report at the next cabinet, and following this up with more scrutiny work, and requesting updates at the next Full Council meeting.

"We will also want to know the outcome of the 11 members of staff that have been suspended, and how the newly appointed management is operating. I want to be totally satisfied that lessons have been learned before new admissions are made. It's essential that the County Council gets a grip on these important matters, especially as this follows hard on the heels if the damning Ofsted report on the inadequacies of the Council's child protection services.

"The County Council must ensure that it has enough staff and budget capacity to protect and look after these very vulnerable children and young people.”