Children's home run by Meadows Care Limited in Rochdale

Inspection report children’s home: SC442864 1 SC442864 Registered provider: Meadows Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is one of a number of children’s homes operated by a private company. The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for three young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The organisation also has a therapy department as well as a school which young people can access if appropriate.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 19 January 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Declined in effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people living in this home benefit from being cared for by staff who demonstrate commitment to meeting their individual needs and keeping them safe. Inspection report children’s home: SC442864 2  Relationships between staff and young people are a key strength. These relationships play a central role in helping young people to become more confident and self-assured.  Parents and professionals report positively about the home and the care provided to young people. Good, collaborative working relationships support young people’s progress.  The home is effectively managed in the best interest of young people. The manager is child-focused and provides visible leadership for her staff team.  The manager and staff give young people’s safety the highest priority. Improvements have been made to risk management within the home and young people benefit from care planning which is underpinned by good multi-

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Key findings from this inspection

agency working. This transparent care practice promotes young people’s safety and well-being.  The manager and the leadership team support the staff well. Staff benefit from regular supervision and training opportunities. This helps to inform and develop their care practice.  Effective internal and external monitoring systems in the home ensure that the manager and the leadership team have a good understanding of the home’s strengths and areas for continued development. These systems support the manager in driving improvements forward.

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Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development:

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Key findings from this inspection

 The areas for improvement identified within the inspection relate to improving the quality of record keeping.  Healthcare plans lack clarity and do not provide staff with specific guidance on how to address identified healthcare needs.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/01/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 23/08/2016 Full Outstanding 10/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/11/2015 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC442864 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the health and well-being standard, with particular reference to ensuring that young people reduce their use of cannabis, the provider must ensure that — (1)(a) the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

(2)(a) that staff help each child to — (i) achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans.

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Requirement Due date

This is with particular regard to improving the quality of healthcare plans. 04/08/2017

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, April 2015, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This home has made a significant difference to the lives of the young people who currently live there. Young people are well supported and share good relationships with staff who act as positive role models. Staff spoken with during this inspection demonstrated an excellent understanding of each individual young person’s needs and are very committed to helping young people to achieve their full potential. Staff are ambitious for all the young people and treat each of them with unconditional positive regard at all times. Consequently, young people are able to live out their childhood in a safe, caring and nurturing environment where they can start to address past difficulties and move on positively. Inspection report children’s home: SC442864 4 Young people make good progress as a direct result of the care that they receive in the home. They confirm that they feel happy and have good relationships with staff. One

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

young person stated, ‘Staff are kind, funny, they listen to me and I like them. This place is just like a home and I like it here.’ Relatives and professionals are equally positive and their comments include, ‘Staff act as good role models and have appropriate banter with the young people’ and ‘Staff are so welcoming, really nice and caring. I can see a difference in [name of young person] and she has grown into a bubbly and smiley person. I couldn’t ask for more.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Educational outcomes for young people are positive. Effective relationships between the staff team and education colleagues ensure that young people are able to access suitable education as soon as possible after they arrive at the home. The manager and staff maintain daily contact with the provider’s education facility which ensures that the package of education is meeting the young person’s individual learning needs. Education is highly valued and promoted by staff. Staff help young people to aim high and make good use of incentives and rewards to encourage participation. Overtime, this focus on education enhances young people’s opportunities and enables them to reach their goals for their future lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people benefit from well-planned contact with their families which is enjoyable and safe. Staff maintain close links with families and, where appropriate, ensure that families are involved in care planning decisions. Contact is promoted and maintained in a way that meets young people’s best interests. As a result, young people are able to maintain links and develop relationships with those who are significant to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Health is positively promoted through access to community healthcare professionals, ensuring that healthcare needs are met. Additionally, staff provide advice and information about healthy lifestyle choices. However, healthcare plans lack clarity and do not provide staff with specific guidance on how to address identified healthcare needs. This hinders the staff team’s ability to provide a consistent approach to managing particular health needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage young people to access a wide range of social and recreational activities, both in the home and the local community. Young people enjoy playing games, watching films and looking after their pet hamster. Young people regularly go swimming, attend the local youth club and other sports groups. This develops young people’s self-confidence in managing social situations and creates opportunities to increase peer relationships within the local community.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people’s views are integral to improving their experience of living in the home. Staff use impromptu and planned opportunities to engage young people. Staff utilise time with young people to informally seek their views and have discussions with them about pertinent issues. Staff are skilled at communicating effectively with young people and ensure that they are consulted and listened to on all aspects of their care. Overtime, this has helped young people to grow in confidence, and enabled them to contribute to making important decisions about their care. Inspection report children’s home: SC442864 5 The home is warm and welcoming and pleasantly furnished and decorated. There are numerous photographs of the young people and staff displayed around the home. Key information that is helpful to the young people is also displayed in communal areas along with certificates and records of achievements. Staff and young people take pride in the

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

environment and this helps to create a homely and nurturing atmosphere.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Young people say that they feel safe in the home. Good safeguarding practice contributes to the group’s strong sense of safety and well-being. Staff clearly understand the risks posed by young people’s behaviour, and this knowledge is underpinned by robust risk assessments. Staff develop an excellent understanding of young people’s needs and triggers, and there are clear strategies in place to respond to risky situations and behaviours. This protects young people from harm and promotes their well-being.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Young people come to the home with a significant history of concerning behaviours including gang association, going missing and sexual exploitation. Staff are clear about the young people’s level of risk and vulnerabilities and can verbalise the actions that they take in supporting young people during these times. The manager and staff work hard to protect young people from harm. They undertake regular targeted key work sessions with young people on subjects such as sexual exploitation, relationships, e-safety and the dangers of going missing. Consequently, young people have learned to take personal responsibility for their actions and improvements are evident. For example, young people no longer place themselves at risk by going missing from the home, nor do their associate with a negative peer group. These changes have unquestionably led to greater opportunities, increased confidence and promoted their safety and well-being.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff demonstrate a careful, child-centred approach to positive behaviour management. Their conflict management is effective because of the consistent implementation of boundaries. Staff focus on positives and sanctions are not the preferred method of managing behaviour. The use of restorative techniques also helps young people to confront their unacceptable behaviours, take responsibility and reflect on how they can handle future situations more constructively.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff are clear that the use of physical intervention is very much a last resort and this level of intervention has only been necessary on rare occasions. Staff report that they are more comfortable using their positive relationships that they have built up with young people to defuse difficult situations to avoid this practice being necessary. Records demonstrate that any incidents of physical intervention are sensitively and appropriately followed up through discussion and reflection. The manager ensures that these records are reviewed and evaluated promptly and addresses any shortfalls within this practice quickly.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Young people live in a physically safe environment. They are protected from any hazards by a comprehensive range of detailed health and safety procedures, risk assessments and checks. Staff carry out regular health and safety checks, including fire drills with Inspection report children’s home: SC442864 6 young people, to ensure that the premises are safe and young people know what to do in case of an emergency.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Organisational recruitment is sufficiently robust. The manager takes an active part in the recruitment of staff to ensure that she has a good mix of skills and abilities on the team. Checks are obtained and scrutinised prior to employment and then held securely. This supports young people to be cared for by adults who have been appropriately checked prior to employment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has been in post since May 2017. She is extremely child- focused, dedicated and suitably experienced for the role. She has worked for a number of years as a deputy manager in the same organisation. Since her appointment as the manager, she has worked tirelessly to develop the service for the benefit of the young people placed. It was evident throughout the inspection that the manager and staff team place young people at the centre of the service and prioritise their individual needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All members of staff spoken with during the inspection talked positively about the registered manager’s supportive leadership style. They confirmed the arrangements for regular and effective supervision. Learning and development opportunities are also effective. All mandatory training is up to date. This includes core training, such as safeguarding and first aid, alongside more specialist courses such as training around child sexual exploitation and therapeutic care. Training is ongoing and regular opportunities are in place to refresh old skills and develop new skills. This ensures that care practice remains current and well informed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Young people’s electronic records are well arranged and of a good standard. This provides young people with a good overall picture of their experiences at the home. However, on occasions, staff have used judgemental and opinionated language in some records. The manager accepted that this is an area for improvement during the inspection. The manager has identified systems that she can implement to address this, to ensure that all recording is completed in a factual and non-judgemental manner.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has quickly established good working relationships with parents, family members and external agencies. This means that young people benefit from a holistic support package, the purpose of which is to ensure that they progress and have access to the right levels of support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager undertakes regular monitoring of the home to ensure that it operates in accordance with the statement of purpose. Both internal and external monitoring systems provide for regular consultation with young people, parents and professionals. This ensures that the quality of the service continues to be assessed and analysed in order to drive improvements. Leaders and managers have a realistic understanding of the strengths of the service and promptly addresses areas where improvement can be made. The home continues to use a detailed development plan to drive forward further improvements. This ensures that young people remain at the heart of the home and that Inspection report children’s home: SC442864 7 they receive the best possible care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Any incidents relating to safeguarding or child protection are promptly notified to the correct agencies. There are no concerns about the home’s management of such incidents.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: SC442864 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Meadows Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Meadows Care Limited, Egerton House, Wardle Road, Rochdale OL12 9EN

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Niel Shelmerdine

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Inspector(s)

Ceri Evans: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC442864 9 achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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