Children's home run by Pathway Care Solutions Ltd in Bolton

Inspection report children’s home: SC462148 1 SC462148 Registered provider: Pathway Care Solutions II Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is registered to care for one child with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. It is owned and managed by a private organisation.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

 One child resides here and continues to make good progress. Education is now provided off-site for the child, which has created more opportunities for her to socialise. Inspection report children’s home: SC462148 2  Staff provide good and consistent care, implementing routines that enable the child to settle and build good relationships with the staff.  Incidents of poor behaviour have decreased and the child is beginning to use strategies to calm herself.  The manager is very experienced and well qualified. He understands the strengths and areas for development for the service and strives for continued improvement.  Good partnership work enhances the experiences and outcomes for the child.

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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

 Records of two incidents do not provide clarity as to whether staff fully understand their responsibilities in reporting and recording safeguarding concerns.  The manager has not provided information about his decision-making regarding the appropriateness of an alternative qualification for staff.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 09/11/2016 Full Good 14/12/2015 Interim Not judged 18/11/2015 Interim Not judged Inspection report children’s home: SC462148 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

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that staff understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12(1) and (2) (a)(v)) 31/07/2017

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Recommendations

 To establish whether an existing qualification is equivalent to either the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare, and/ or the Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare, the registered person should check whether the existing qualification has appeared in previous children’s homes legislation or National Minimum Standards. In addition, the registered person should also establish whether the units completed in the candidate’s original qualification have content which corresponds with the units of the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare; and/ or the Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare. They should consider the relevance of the units of any original qualifications to the care of children as described in the home’s Statement of Purpose. The registered person should keep a record of the information they have considered to establish ‘equivalence’.

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Recommendations

Where a registered person identifies gaps in qualifications, they should act to ensure relevant units or qualifications are completed in a timely manner at an appropriate level. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 68, Annex A) Inspection report children’s home: SC462148 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the reregistration of this home in 2016, one child has resided here. She continues to make good progress in a number of areas, particularly in her education, social skills, and behaviour.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Until recently, her education has been provided in the home by an alternative provider. Although her education is not yet full-time, it now takes place outside of the home, giving her the opportunity to work alongside other learners, improving her social skills. She has adapted to this change well and her attendance is good.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

She enjoys an increasing number of activities with staff and with other young people, both local neighbours and peers from the organisation’s other homes nearby. These activities include going to the cinema, shopping, going to the park, and attending parties and events. She also regularly attends gymnastics and dance class. As well as providing opportunities to socialise, this helps to keep her physically fit. Staff work hard to encourage her to eat healthy meals and she has begun to lose weight. She also takes responsibility for her own personal hygiene. She does not smoke or misuse substances and her primary healthcare needs are addressed, ensuring that minor ailments are treated appropriately and regular check-ups are performed. She engages positively with the therapy team, exploring her emotional well-being. Staff and the therapy team have worked closely in order to support the child following a self-harm incident. This ensures

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

that her holistic health care needs are met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Although not yet ready for independence, she is learning life skills, such as cooking and preparing meals, making her bed and cleaning. This provides useful skills for when she is older.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child’s relationships with staff continue to improve, because staff consistently implement routines and establish firm boundaries. Staff work hard to ensure that she benefits from contact with those people who are important to her. They ensure that arrangements for contact are safe, while ensuring that it is an enjoyable experience.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A detailed care plan outlines the care needed to meet her needs. Good key-work sessions enable staff to discuss with her a variety of topics, including healthy eating, feelings, anxiety, puberty, sleep, hygiene, self-harm and positive relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child readily shares her views and opinions through key-working sessions, daily interactions with staff and through the resident meetings. Her views are taken seriously and considered by staff in their own meeting. Recently, she requested that her bedroom be redecorated. She chose the colour scheme and décor, and this has now been completed. Her bedroom is more personal as a result.

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

Inspection report children’s home: SC462148 5 Incidents of challenging behaviour have decreased since the last inspection, and the use of physical intervention is rare. Where it is used, records provide clarity as to the reason it was used, and staff and the child benefit from a debrief with managers. This helps everyone learn from the incident. The child responds well to a new reward system whereby she collects small, hand-made pom-poms for good behaviour and fills a jar to receive treats. She is beginning to self-regulate and often takes herself off to calm down rather than escalate behaviour. Sanctions for poor behaviour are relevant and their effectiveness is reviewed, which helps the child understand the consequences of negative behaviour.

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

Detailed risk assessments for the child enable her to take part in a range of activities and help keep her safe within the home. There has been one incident when she was missing for a short period. Staff were swift to respond and followed correct procedures, ensuring a safe return. Staff undertook a key-work session with her, helping her to understand the risks associated with going missing from the home. A formal return interview is being arranged.

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

The child takes part in scenarios during resident meetings, helping her to understand what to do in the event of a fire, for example when cooking in the kitchen. This is in addition to taking part in regular fire drills. The home is well maintained, clean and kept safe and appropriately secure. Fire, maintenance, and health and safety checks are carried out regularly, ensuring that the home is safe.

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

Currently the child is not receiving any medication. Staff understand the safe administration and recording of medication and undertake training in this area.

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

Training in safeguarding matters are generally good. Staff have covered topics such as radicalisation, sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation, restraint and restorative justice. Despite undertaking safeguarding training, there have been two recent incidents whereby it is unclear whether staff have understood their roles and responsibilities in relation to safeguarding matters. This is in relation to a disclosure made about an incident with a peer in a previous placement and an allegation against a member of staff that was subsequently withdrawn. Recording of the action taken and decision-making by staff and managers is not clear. Therefore, it is not possible to ascertain if they followed the correct procedures. A requirement is made to ensure that all staff understand their responsibilities and that action is clearly recorded.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is very experienced and appropriately qualified. He manages this and another home nearby and he is ably supported by a deputy manager. This ensures that the home is managed very well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager understands the strengths and areas to develop in the home. A detailed improvement plan identifies targets for the development of the home. Monthly reviews, supported by evidence, identify the progress towards these targets. Inspection report children’s home: SC462148 6 Monitoring is good. Regular visits by the independent person provide a detailed account of the progress of the child and any areas to address. Shortfalls are actioned swiftly. An excellent evaluative review by the manager, brought to life with photographs, identifies improvement and the impact of the home on the child’s progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has addressed the recommendation made at the previous inspection. Educational outcomes, outside of formal education, are now recorded, reflecting the ongoing learning of the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The statement of purpose provides a very good overview of the service, its ethos and practice. The child’s guide provides a clear understanding of how the home operates.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from regular good quality supervision. They discuss the child’s progress, any concerns and their own development. Quizzes on various topics help keep knowledge up to date. Team meetings refer to requests and comments made in the child’s meeting, current issues and developments in the home. They also provide a forum for training, for example on self-harm responses and therapeutic support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Partnership working is good, with regular multi agency professionals meetings discussing the holistic care and support for the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A recommendation is made to ensure that the manager reviews the suitability of possible alternative qualifications of staff and records his decisions. This will ensure that all staff are suitably qualified to work with the child.

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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 difference 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 who 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: SC462148 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Pathway Care Solutions II Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Acorn Care and Education Ltd, 1 Merchants Place, River Street, Bolton BL2 1BX

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Inspector

Judith Longden, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC462148 8 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

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Inspector

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Inspector

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