Children's home run by Inmind Childrens Services Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1244082 1 Registered provider: Inmind 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 provides care and accommodation for up to 13 young people who have learning disabilities. A private company owns and operates the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: First inspection of the home since registered.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Not applicable

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Key findings from this inspection

Inspection report children’s home: 1244082 2 This children’s home requires improvement to be good because:

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Key findings from this inspection

 There has been considerable disruption to the management arrangements in the home. Since registration, the home has had three different managers. The home has been without a registered manager for over 26 weeks. This means the home is judged as inadequate in leadership and management. The instability in management affects the quality of care young people receive.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff have not ensured that medication dispensed to a young person was in accordance with their prescription.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The manager and staff have not taken measures to ensure the privacy of young people in their rooms.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Weeds, overgrown trees, bushes and shrubs in gardens to the front of the home require attention. This does not provide a welcoming environment.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff directly involved in incidents of physical intervention have both recorded and verified the incidents. This means there is insufficient independent oversight and scrutiny of practice in this area.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The young person’s guide and welcome pack are not accessible to all young people living in the home. They are not written in a way that takes into account young people’s learning disabilities and needs.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The manager does not have a workforce development plan setting out the training that staff have completed and the training due to be undertaken. The current system is confusing and has missing information, making it unclear whether staff have received sufficient training to fulfil their roles.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The acting manager and staff value young people’s education. They are working with a new headteacher to develop an ambitious learning disability curriculum which will forge links with local colleges and employers, to better prepare young people for adult life.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people have detailed placement plans, and staff understand them. Staff encourage young people to develop their own plans, giving them a sense of control. This increases the likelihood of success of the plans.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Relationships between young people and their families are valued, and regular family contact takes place.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Managers and staff understand the vulnerabilities of young people and the risks they face. Staff implement detailed risk-management plans. When young people Inspection report children’s home: 1244082 3 have gone missing from care, staff take immediate and effective action to get them home.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The new acting manager understands the weaknesses of the home and is ambitious and focused on improvement.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The staff report feeling well supported, with regular and professional supervision. These supervision sessions help to focus staff on providing quality care for young people.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Partnership working with other agencies is good. Social workers report a good level of communication with staff. Regular multi-agency meetings take place to ensure that young people’s needs are met. Inspection report children’s home: 1244082 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

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that helps young people to fulfil their potential and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to-

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Requirement Due date

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 13(1) and (2)(a)) 06/10/2017

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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. (Regulation 23(1)) 06/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if there is no registered manager in respect of the home. (Regulation 27(1)(a)) 06/10/2017

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Recommendations

 For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food, hygiene etc.); however in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all incidents of control, discipline and restraint are subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure their use is fair and Inspection report children’s home: 1244082 5 the above principles (as set out in paragraph 9.35) are respected. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should:

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Recommendations

 Detail the necessary management and staffing structure, including any staff commissioned to provide health and education), the experience and qualifications of staff currently working within the staffing structure and any further training;

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Recommendations

 Detail the processes and agreed timescales for staff to achieve induction, probation and any core training (such as safeguarding, health and safety and mandatory qualifications);

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Recommendations

 Detail the process for managing and improving poor performance;

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Recommendations

 Detail the process and timescales for supervision of practice (see regulation 33 (4)(b)) and keep appropriate records for staff in the home.

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Recommendations

(‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Recommendations

 An effective introduction to a home will take into account the child’s abilities and capacity to understand and retain information. Such an introduction may take place over a period of time and may be delivered in different formats according to the child’s communication and cognitive abilities. The registered person should ensure staff establish the child’s understanding of key information about living in the home and the expectations of their care in order to establish whether there are gaps in the child’s understanding. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 57, paragraph 11.8) Inspection report children’s home: 1244082 6

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improvement to be good

This is the first inspection of this home since registration. The home has experienced considerable disruption to management arrangements. The home has had three different managers. There has been no registered manager in day-to-day charge since December 2016. Staff and young people have not received the consistent guidance, support, and leadership they need, which is vital to ensure that young people make progress and stay safe.

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improvement to be good

Some new young people coming to live at the home do not benefit from having information about the home in a format that they can understand. The young person’s guide and welcome booklet contain useful information, but are in a written format only. This area requires strengthening to ensure that all young people benefit from information about the home presented in a manner which is accessible, taking into account their communication style and specific needs.

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improvement to be good

The acting manager and staff value education for young people. Young people go to school on site, and attendance is generally good. The school has recently appointed a new headteacher who is ambitious, and who is confident that a new curriculum will support young people’s development and learning. Young people make progress at school. There is careful and individualised tracking of each young person’s learning and development. Partnership working is strong. Daily, weekly and termly meetings take place between school staff and residential staff. This helps to ensure that residential staff are aware of the academic and behavioural development of young people, and can help them make progress. The headteacher is part of the leadership group so remains well appraised of any wider developments concerning any of the young people. The new headteacher and acting manager at the home are developing links with local colleges

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improvement to be good

and employers to promote young people taking up college courses and gaining work experience, which helps to prepare them for adult life.

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improvement to be good

The staff compile effective and detailed placement plans for young people. These plans set out the aims and objectives for each young person. By following these plans staff provide effective care to young people. Young people understand their placement plans; they are encouraged and supported to contribute fully to their own plans. This means young people are fully involved in the decisions that affect their lives, and in creating shared goals. This helps motivate young people to achieve their goals.

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improvement to be good

Staff value the relationships between young people and their families, and those close to them. Young people see their families regularly and in line with their individual plans. Staff understand how important regular family visits are for the emotional and behavioural well-being of young people. Some young people have made progress behaviourally, leading to family visits progressing from being supervised to unsupervised. Another young person is now seeing a close family member following a Inspection report children’s home: 1244082 7 significant period of not doing so. This is a very positive and welcome development. Family contact helps support young people to develop an understanding of their identity and family history.

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improvement to be good

Young people receive support to experience a wide range of activities and pursue their interests. Young people enjoy a range of activities, such as gymnastics, baking cakes, swimming and attending ‘gaming centres’ with staff. Young people and staff enjoy spending time together doing fun activities. This helps young people to develop confidence, and nurtures the relationships between young people and staff.

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improvement to be good

Staff have failed to dispense medication to young people correctly. Ofsted received notification of an incident whereby a medication error occurred. The director of operations and the responsible individual completed a review of the medication policy. Subsequently they strengthened processes for the dispensing of medicines. However, incidents of this nature should not happen in a children’s home, and have the potential to jeopardise young people’s safety.

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improvement to be good

The acting manager and leaders of the service have not sufficiently reviewed all incidents of physical restraint. On some occasions staff have resorted to using physical restraint, and these incidents have been overseen and verified by staff and managers involved in the incidents. This excludes any independent oversight and scrutiny. This independent scrutiny is important to ensure that such interventions are necessary and proportionate to ensure the safety of young people and others.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand the individual vulnerabilities and risks that young people face. This is because managers and staff complete individual risk assessments and implement risk- management plans. Staff regularly update risk-management plans to reflect the individual and changing circumstances of young people. A social worker commented: ‘I feel they are doing everything that can be done to keep the young person safe.’

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improvement to be good

In circumstances of young people going missing from care, staff take prompt action to locate them. Staff search the local area, they constantly try to contact the young people, and they notify the police and local authority immediately. The staff and managers seek to understand the reasons why the young people go missing. They do this through individual key-work sessions with the young people. These sessions take place frequently and enable the young people to talk through their concerns or worries. This helps to prevent them going missing in the future.

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improvement to be good

Young people experience good levels of staffing to help keep them safe. Young people are safer because higher numbers of staff support individual young people. For some young people who have presented with increased levels of risk and vulnerability, managers have worked in partnership with the responsible local authority to increase the staffing resource. This helps to ensure that young people have continued staff support, and it prevents difficulties arising. Inspection report children’s home: 1244082 8 The manager has completed and reviewed the home’s location risk assessment. The assessment identifies areas locally that present risk and concerns for young people’s safety. The manager has taken the views of local police and the local authority into account. This means that the manager and staff can take pre-emptive action to prevent young people frequenting risky areas. This is good practice, and helps staff to prioritise

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

This home has had no registered manager for in excess of 26 weeks. This renders the home inadequate for leadership and management. The current acting manager has recently taken up this post and has now applied to Ofsted for registration. He is not yet qualified but is enrolled on the level 5 diploma for leadership and management. The acting manager was previously the deputy manager, and has worked in the service for some time. He is ambitious, as are two equally committed deputy managers. They are focused on a journey of improvement. It is disappointing that secure and settled management arrangements have not been established earlier. The service requires stability and consistency in management to ensure that it meets its aims, objectives, and the quality of care as set out in the home’s statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Young people’s bedrooms, in terms of their individual privacy, require further consideration. Some rooms have frosted windows, others have only partial frosted glass, and other rooms have none. The manager and staff should ensure that young people have the privacy they need while balancing this against keeping the home comfortable and not institutionalised. The outside area, particularly the car park and the front of the home, appears overgrown with weeds, trees, and hedges. From the front, this appearance detracts from the otherwise comfortable home environment for young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The acting manager does not have a fully developed workforce development plan. This is a weakness. Managers and leaders have no clear system in place to understand what training staff have undertaken, or need to complete. Leaders have appointed a human resources manager who is working hard to ensure that this situation is rectified. There are a range of training opportunities available for staff. These focus on the specific needs of young people with learning disabilities, and keeping young people safe. This training and development will ensure that the staff have the knowledge and skills they need to care for young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The staff report that they feel well supported and receive regular professional supervision. Managers and staff develop supervision agreements, and this strengthens the supervision process. These agreements help staff understand the reasons for supervision, the structure of sessions and professional boundaries. Within the individual staff supervision meetings, young people’s needs and progress are discussed, as is each member of staff’s training and development needs. These sessions ensure that staff have the oversight and direction they require to provide good care to young people. Inspection report children’s home: 1244082 9 Partnership working with other agencies is positive. The manager and staff work closely with local authority social workers, who report good communication. Any incidents of concern are reported immediately to local authorities, enabling a joint agreement to be reached in relation to actions to help young people. Meetings that are of crucial

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

importance take place quickly, and the actions of the staff and social workers are well coordinated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Robust quality assurance systems identify the strengths and weaknesses of the home. The manager receives monthly, insightful reports from the independent visitor. The reports highlight areas of strength and those areas requiring attention and improvement. The visitor makes recommendations that support overall service development. The leadership of the service has completed an ambitious development plan for the home. This plan includes clear targets to achieve, with accompanying timescales and criteria for evaluation. The manager has recently completed a review of the quality of care. This review analysed and evaluated things that are working well, and areas he wants to improve. Taken collectively, these measures signify a leadership team that recognises where things have gone wrong, and what needs to be done to make sustained improvements.

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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: 1244082 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Inmind Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 7 The Quadrant, Upper Culham Farm, Upper Culham Road, Upper Culham Reading RG10 8NR

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Patricia Gregory

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Inspector

Phillip Morris, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1244082 11 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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