Children's home run by PIC Children’s Services in St. Helens

Inspection report children's home: SC022437 1 SC022437 Registered provider: PIC Children’s Services 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

The home is privately run and is registered for one young person who has emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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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: declined in effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

 The young person has made significant progress in education. His attendance and engagement has improved, resulting in him sitting his GCSE examinations, with positive predictions for achieving good grades that will help him with his future life choices. Inspection report children's home: SC022437 2  The young person is currently preparing to return home in a planned way, due to the progress made with his relationship with his parent. The improvement in his behaviours has also contributed to this outcome.  The home’s care plan for the young person has improved. The care plan clearly demonstrates the young person’s journey through care, and how the home meets his current needs.  The level of engagement between the young person and staff in the home has improved. This has enabled members of staff to support the young person and have regular key-work sessions to address specific issues relating to the young

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Key findings from this inspection

person.  The home is supporting the young person and his parent in his transition home.  The registered manager and his staff team work collaboratively with the young person’s social worker, school and other professionals. Therefore, the young person has received the most appropriate support and intervention to meet his needs. The positive multi-agency working has contributed to the progress the young person has made.  Regular communication between the home and the young person’s parent has ensured that she has been kept up to date on the young person’s circumstances. This was particularly beneficial to her when she was not in regular contact with the young person.  The safeguarding practice in the home is robust. There have been no safeguarding incidents, physical intervention, room searches or consequences for the young person since the last inspection.  The registered manager and his staff team are highly motivated and committed

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Key findings from this inspection

to the young person. They are fully focused on providing care that is reflective of the young person’s needs.

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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 systems in place in relation to the safe storage, administering and recording of medication need to be strengthened. Records in the home at the time of the inspection indicated that some medication was missing.  Supervision records should demonstrate that staff receive practice-related supervision that allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the young person assigned to their care.  The independent person’s monthly reports should be sent to HMCI in a timely manner to enable the regulatory body to be satisfied that the conduct of the home promotes the young person’s well-being, and that the young person is effectively safeguarded in the home.  Records in the home should be up to date and reflect the young person’s current situation. The fact that the home does not have an on-site printer means that records and plans on the young person’s case file are not always up to date. Inspection report children's home: SC022437 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/03/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 22/11/2016 Full Good 30/12/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness 28/10/2015 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC022437 4

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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

44: Independent person: visits and reports

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to HMCI. (Regulation 44 (7)(a)) 11/08/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home. In particular the registered person must ensure that a record is kept of the administration of medicine to each child. (Regulation 23 (1)(2)(c)) 11/08/2017

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Recommendations

 Ensure a record of supervision is kept for staff that provides evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)  All children’s case records (regulation 36) must be kept up to date and stored securely whilst they remain in the home. Case records must be kept up to date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3) In particular, the home should ensure a printed copy of any update is immediately available for all staff to view.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person has made significant and measurable progress in a number of areas of his life since moving into the home. The support and intervention from the staff has Inspection report children's home: SC022437 5 contributed to this progress. They have encouraged the young person to make the right choices, which has enabled him to make progress in his education, improve his level of engagement with staff and professionals and build relationships with his family. The young person said, ‘I have made progress due to the positive choices I have made.’ His parent said, ‘The support from the home has helped my son and contributed to the progress he has made.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Despite previous issues in education relating to poor attendance, engagement and attainment, the young person has made remarkable progress. He has attended school regularly and engaged fully in his lessons. Furthermore, he has completed independent study in preparation for his GCSE examinations and has now finished all of the exams. He is now predicted to do much better than previously anticipated due to his hard work and his commitment to his education. The home encouraged and supported the young person to make the right choices in relation to education. He was provided with the necessary equipment to enable him to fully immerse himself into his learning. Regular communication between the home and school ensured that the young person was receiving the most appropriate support, both at home and in school, to achieve successful outcomes. A member of staff from the young person’s school said, ‘The young

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

person is one of our ‘success stories’. A lot of time and effort has gone into him from school and home. We have seen the fruits of all our hard work.’ The young person is looking forward to attending his ‘school prom’ soon, and the home has provided him with financial support to buy a new suit and have money to spend at the celebration.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person’s health and well-being is promoted in the home. His health care plan identifies his health needs, and he is fully supported in this area. The young person can be difficult to motivate to attend relevant health and development appointments. However, records in the home demonstrate the attempts made to ensure that the young person has received all relevant health and developmental checks. He currently has an outstanding GP appointment in relation to assessments and tests he needs, and arrangements have been made with his parent for these to be carried out. The home encourages and supports the young person to adopt a healthy lifestyle, and he is now a member of the local gym. Staff undertake key-work sessions with the young person which address his health, development and well-being. Healthy meal planning and shopping is included as part of the independence work being undertaken with the young

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

person. Consequently, the health needs of the young person are met, and he has become more active.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person now has a positive relationship with family members despite this being a significant issue previously. The young person and some family members went through a period of having no contact with each other whatsoever. During this time, the home had maintained regular contact with the young person’s parent so she was fully informed of his experiences and progress. His parent said, ‘The regular communication from staff helped me through a very difficult time when I was not having any contact with my son.’ Throughout the period when the young person was not in contact with his family, staff continued to encourage him to maintain and develop these relationships. They raised his awareness and understanding of the importance and benefits of the relationships. In time, the young person chose to re-establish relationships with his Inspection report children's home: SC022437 6 family. He now benefits from regular, quality contact with people who are important to

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

him. Furthermore, his relationship with his parent is much improved. The support and encouragement for the young person and his family with regard to building their relationships has resulted in a plan for the young person to return home, with family relationships being the best they have been in a long time.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is fully supporting the young person and his mother with the young person’s transition home. The young person is now spending most of his time at home, and the staff from the children’s home remain in daily contact with the young person and his mother. The home remains staffed at all times, and the young person is still receiving his emotional and practical support and monies from the home. However, the registered manager, staff, education professionals, the young person’s mother and the young person himself have all raised their concerns in relation to the lack of planning and support in place from the local authority in relation to the transition. The registered manager of the home has challenged the local authority in relation to this, and will raise it at the young person’s forthcoming looked-after child review. The registered manager has offered outreach support for the young person and his mother for a three-month

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

period following his discharge from the home. This demonstrates the home’s commitment to the young person, and its determination to ensure that he has a smooth, successful transition from care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of the last inspection, the young person was going through a period of disengagement with staff in the home, other professionals and family members. However, this has now improved significantly. The young person has engaged much more with staff in the home and has benefited from key-work sessions, which have helped him to understand the importance and benefits of his education, and of positive relationships in his life. The young person has not been as isolated as he was. The young person is now a member of the local gym and attends with his friends. The encouragement and support from the home has contributed to the progress the young person has made. His social interaction, self-esteem and confidence are now much improved.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home’s care plan for the young person is detailed, and clearly demonstrates his journey through care. It is regularly reviewed and updated electronically, and accurately reflects his day-to-day needs and the support in place for him. Furthermore, the home’s care plan includes the views, wishes and feelings of the young person, the registered manager’s evaluation and an action plan. This demonstrates that there is effective care planning in place for the young person. However, although the care plan is regularly updated electronically, a current copy of the plan was not on the young person’s case file during the inspection. Primarily, this is because the home does not have an on-site printer. The registered manager collected a copy of the young person’s up-to-date care plan from the company’s head office on the day of the inspection. This means that staff are not always able to read the most recent records and plans for the young person. As

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

a result, they may not be fully aware of any changes to his current needs.

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

Inspection report children's home: SC022437 7 Safeguarding practice in the home is robust and promotes the welfare and safety of the young person. The registered manager and staff are adequately trained in safeguarding and have a clear understanding of the risks the young person faces. Furthermore, they are clear on the actions they should take if they are concerned about the welfare of the young person. Consequently, the young person is safeguarded in the home.

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

The home took effective action regarding the concerns raised at the last inspection in relation to a safeguarding incident. Robust procedures are now in place to ensure that staff are always aware as to whether the young person is in the home or not. The procedures are clearly understood by the staff and young person. Consequently, there have been no further such incidents and the whereabouts of the young person are now known by staff at all times.

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

Since the last inspection, there have been no safeguarding incidents for the young person. There are no issues in relation to him being missing from home, self-harming, child sexual exploitation or substance misuse. However, the home has clear risk assessments in place in relation to these issues to ensure that staff are able to respond appropriately, if such incidents were to occur. This demonstrates a proactive rather than reactive response to safeguarding the young person.

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

The young person does not present with any challenging behaviour in the home. Approaches to behaviour management in the home are clear. They are well understood by the staff and the young person. A behaviour management plan is in place for the young person that covers his emotional and social development and his well-being. It also covers the staff approach to the young person not responding well to advice and guidance. This plan has enabled staff to shape practice accordingly to meet the young person’s behavioural needs. Consequently, the specific behaviours presented by the young person have improved.

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

There is a good location risk assessment in place that identifies and addresses the known risks in the community, such as railway lines, waterways and parks. Furthermore, the assessment includes data and evaluation of crime statistics, including thefts, drugs and other crime. There is clear evaluation in the assessment of the risks in relation to radicalisation and child sexual exploitation. The assessment is regularly reviewed and updated as new information is obtained from other safeguarding professionals, in particular the police, in relation to crime in the area. A recent update includes information relating to increased knife crime in the area. The robust location risk assessment in the home ensures that the young person is safeguarded from the risks identified in the community.

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

Recruitment and selection procedures for new staff are strong, and demonstrate safe recruitment practice. All checks and references are completed and followed up before staff are appointed. This helps to prevent unsuitable people from having access to young people. Consequently, the young person is safeguarded due to the safe and suitable staff team in the home.

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

Robust approaches to health and safety practices in the home ensure that the home is a Inspection report children's home: SC022437 8 safe place for staff and young people. The staff carry out regular checks, including fire drills, to ensure that the premises are safe and that the young person is able to respond in an emergency. All staff are appropriately trained in first aid.

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

The procedures in place for the administering and recording of medication in the home are poor. Records do not show that the correct amount of medication is stored in the home. The registered manager accepts that staff did not count non-prescribed medication provided by the young person’s parent. Furthermore, records do not clearly state when medication has been administered by staff or self-administered by the young person. Changes in records about the quantity of medication are not signed and dated by staff. Consequently, this poses a risk to the young person.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home continues to be led and managed by a suitably qualified and experienced registered manager. He ensures that the home runs effectively and consistently in the best interests of the young person. The culture and ethos of the home reflects a child- centred approach and a commitment to improving outcomes for the young person. Despite a number of barriers the registered manager and staff have faced in relation to improving outcomes for the current young person living in the home, they have managed to achieve the desired results. The registered manager has taken effective action to address the requirements and recommendations made at the last inspection. Consequently, the young person is in a much better place than he was when he first moved into the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager knows the young person well and takes a very active role in his daily care. He shares his time equally between this home and the other small children’s home he manages. He also does some shifts at the home, including overnights. He regularly talks to the young person to ascertain his views, wishes and feelings, and takes appropriate action in response to these. He has excellent links with professionals and family members to ensure that the young person receives the best possible care, support and intervention to meet his needs. An education professional said, ‘The manager is extremely supportive. He is fantastic.’ The registered manager challenges professionals appropriately when he feels that they are not doing all they should for the young person. The motivation, commitment and enthusiasm of the registered manager promotes the expected level of care from his staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has sufficient permanent, experienced and qualified staff to promote the safety and well-being of the young person. Staff rotas demonstrate a consistent staff team working with the young person. When additional staff from other homes within the company have covered shifts for staff sickness and holidays, every effort has been made to ensure that all relevant information relating to the young person is shared with them. However, the young person does not feel that this was always the case. Therefore, the young person would benefit from being fully involved in this process. The staff feel supported by their manager and each other. A member of staff said, ‘The manager is supportive and we are lucky to have a close and supportive staff team. We work Inspection report children's home: SC022437 9 together to support the young person and regularly communicate with each other about the young person.’ This demonstrates that the members of the staff team work well

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

together to promote the young person’s development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff benefit from regular supervision with their manager. However, the records of supervision viewed at this inspection do not demonstrate robust practice-related supervision that allows staff to reflect on their practice and the needs of the young person. Furthermore, action plans from supervision were not completed to demonstrate the actions that staff are to take in response to the issues discussed during the supervision sessions. The registered manager is aware that improvement is required in the quality of supervision records, and he plans to further update the new supervision policy and template to enable him to clearly record that reflective, child-centred, practice-related supervision takes place with staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff are encouraged and supported by the registered manager in their continued professional development. Training is important to them, and staff are keen to undertake any training that will further enhance their knowledge and skills so that they can continually improve their practice. The company has a new trainer in post, and the registered manager and staff were complimentary about her ability to provide them with the necessary knowledge, skills and understanding required to provide a good quality of care. All staff are up to date with the company’s mandatory training, which includes safeguarding, administration of medication, first aid, fire training and food hygiene and safety. The home’s training matrix is currently being updated, so it was not available at the time of the inspection. The training and development in place for staff benefits young people, as they are provided with a consistently high level of care due to the good

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

level of knowledge and skills that the staff team has.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has effective monitoring systems in place to regularly review the quality of care provided to young people. He recognises that this helps him to drive up standards for young people, and provides him with a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the home. This supports the manager to ensure continuous improvement by making use of the information available to him. Monthly external monitoring visits take place to consider whether children are effectively safeguarded, and whether the conduct of the home is promoting young people’s well-being. However, the reports from these visits are not routinely sent to HMCI in a timely manner to enable the regulatory body to keep abreast of the independent person’s findings, and the home’s response to the findings.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s statement of purpose is detailed and clearly outlines the home’s ethos, the outcomes the home seeks to achieve and its approach to achieving them. Furthermore, it includes information relating to the home’s policies and procedures and staffing. The statement of purpose is to be updated with details of a recent change in staffing. The home is working in line with its statement of purpose.

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Information about this inspection

Inspection report children's home: SC022437 10 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: SC022437 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: PIC Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 North Street, Haydock, St Helens, Merseyside WA11 0TW

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Inspector

Lisa Mulcahy, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: SC022437 12 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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