Children's home run by Horizon Care Limited in Cannock Chase

Inspection report children’s home: SC035690 1 SC035690 Registered provider: Horizon Care Limited Interim inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The home provides care and accommodation for up to four children or young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is privately owned and operated and forms part of a larger organisation.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

Judgement at last inspection: Declined in effectiveness

p.1

Information about this children’s home

Date of last inspection: 23 November 2016

p.1

and young people since the most recent full inspection

This home was judged good at the last full inspection.

p.1

and young people since the most recent full inspection

At this interim inspection, the home was not judged.

p.1

and young people since the most recent full inspection

After a period of instability in the quality of care, leaders took the decision to temporarily close the home. This has enabled time to address the various issues. In the same period, the registered manager resigned their registration. There has therefore been no young people, staff or manager at the home since the middle of July 2017.

p.1

and young people since the most recent full inspection

Since July 2017, contractors and the organisation’s maintenance department have brought the decoration and cleanliness of the home up to a good standard. They have unblocked a drain that was causing a bad smell. They have turned an unused area downstairs into two bedrooms and a bathroom. They have constructed an additional entrance and porch near to the stairs and the office. This has improved the facilities for Inspection report children’s home: SC035690 2 staff and young people, by making the home suitable to accommodate four young people with ample space for staff.

p.1

and young people since the most recent full inspection

A new manager was appointed in August 2017. She is going through the Ofsted registration process. She has undertaken induction training which includes training in the organisation’s model of therapeutic care practice. The manager has scrutinised records and reports about the quality of care and leadership during 2016 and 2017. She has consulted with the leadership team and has formed some clear ideas about how to avoid a repeat of the previous poor outcomes that young people have experienced.

p.2

and young people since the most recent full inspection

The new manager has met with the organisation’s referrals coordinator. She has reviewed the home’s statement of purpose, children’s guide and location review. She demonstrates high expectations of her own and staff care practice. She has a good awareness of the specific challenges relating to the home’s location. However, she has not yet done enough work to ensure that all aspects of the location’s risks are assessed and planned. She has not yet met with local police or the providers of independent return interviews for young people who go missing. She has not ensured that the children’s guide is completely consistent with the ways that she and staff will manage young people’s behaviour. She has not set out a clear plan showing how the staff team will be trained and supported to provide good-quality care to young people.

p.2

and young people since the most recent full inspection

The registered provider has indicated that the home will begin re-operating in the next three or four weeks.

p.2

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/11/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness 24/05/2016 Full Good 10/11/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness 08/06/2015 Full Requires improvement

p.2

Recommendations

 Ensure that the children’s guide helps children to understand what happens in the home and the care they can expect to receive while living there. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.22) In particular, ensure that the information about behaviour management and restorative approaches is understandable and in line with the therapeutic Inspection report children’s home: SC035690 3 approaches explained in the home’s statement of purpose.  Ensure that the home’s missing person procedures take into account the views of appropriate local services and have regard to police and local authority protocols for responding to missing person incidents in the area where the home is located. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.29)  Ensure that when a child returns to the home after being missing from care or

p.2

Recommendations

away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority provides an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30) In particular, ensure that arrangements are established before young people are placed, so that managers and staff are confident about arrangements before they are needed.  Ensure that the registered person’s reviews of the appropriateness and suitability of the location and premises of the home include the identification of any risks and opportunities presented by the home’s location and strategies for managing these. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)

p.3

Recommendations

In particular, ensure that full account is taken of isolation risks inside and outside the house, police intelligence, footpaths, roads, and the nearby quarry.  Ensure that any decisions to limit a child’s access to any area of the home and any modifications to the environment of the home are only made where this is intended to safeguard the child’s welfare. All decisions should be informed by a rigorous assessment of that individual child’s needs, be properly recorded and be kept under regular review. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10) This is with particular respect to young people’s access to the downstairs bathrooms and the use of bedroom and exit door alarms or buzzers.  Ensure that there is a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should:

p.3

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 required for those staff, to enable the delivery of the home’s statement of purpose; – Detail the processes and agreed timescales for staff to achieve induction, probation and any core training (such as safeguarding and health and safety and mandatory qualifications); – Detail the process for managing and improving poor performance; – Detail the process and timescales for supervision of practice (see regulation 33(4)(b)) and keep appropriate records for staff in the home. (‘Guide to the Inspection report children’s home: SC035690 4 children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8) In particular, ensure that the staff team is prepared, trained and supported

p.3

Recommendations

before young people are admitted to the home.

p.4

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.

p.4

Information about this inspection

This inspection focused on the effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of children and young people since the most recent full inspection.

p.4

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’.

p.4

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Horizon Care Limited

p.4

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Venture House, 12 Prospect Business Park, Longford Road, Cannock, Staffordshire WS11 0LG

p.4

Inspector

Rachel Britten, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC035690 5 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

p.4

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.5

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.5

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.5