Children's Home run by Essandore Limited in St Helens

Inspection report children’s home: SC066218 1 SC066218 Registered provider: Essandore 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 offers accommodation for up to five young people who have learning disabilities and who may also have physical disabilities. The home is owned by a private company.

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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 The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good. Date of last inspection: 22 March 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

 Children and young people have made very good progress from their initial starting points since living at the home.  Children and young people were observed to be happy, relaxed and comfortable in Inspection report children’s home: SC066218 2 their home.  All children and young people are in full-time education and are making progress, within their own capabilities.  Children and young people are involved in the key decisions made in the home. Staff use a wide variety of communication aids and systems to support children and young people in their decision-making processes.  Staff have high aspirations for each child and young person, supporting them to achieve their best.  Staff support children and young people to develop their life and social skills by offering a wide variety of activities, opportunities and experiences while integrating them into the community.  A knowledgeable and dedicated management team supports staff.

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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

 Visitors to the home need to be signed in and identification needs to be more thoroughly scrutinised.  Records need to be accurate, signed and dated and have a rigorous management overview.  Recruitment records need to be robust, including exact months and dates of previous employment.  Staff, children and young people involved in any physical intervention should have the opportunity to receive a debrief from somebody independent of the incident.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 12/12/2016 Full Good 24/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 22/09/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC066218 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, the 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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

they assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that all visitors to the home are duly identified and full names obtained in the visitor book. 20/11/2017

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Requirement Due date

35: Behaviour management policies and records

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (‘the behaviour management policy’) which sets out the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home. The registered person must ensure that within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration; and the name of the person who used the measure (‘the user’), and of any other person present when the measure was used. (Regulation 35(1)(b)(2)(vi)) 20/11/2017 Inspection report children’s home: SC066218 4

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording, particularly with reference to recording the dates and designation of the recorder. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  Ensure maintenance of good employment practice for each prospective employee by requesting specific dates of previous employment and scrutinising any gaps in employment. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people make very good progress because of good-quality, nurturing relationships with staff. Staff are skilled and adept at building relationships with children and young people. Interactions observed during the inspection were relaxed and in the child or young person’s preferred communication style.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff offer children and young people a wide range of activities to explore, experience and integrate within the local community, for example, trips to the local park, the community farm and local restaurants. Staff are creative and confident, providing opportunities that young people may not previously have had. The management team and staff’s ethos is that risk assessments should be enabling rather than disabling. Consequently, children and young people receive support to undertake new and exciting experiences. Young people have enjoyed a trip to Disneyland in Paris. They also went away as a group to a holiday park. A young person described his holidays as ‘fab’. A parent said: ‘The group holiday was great for my son. Not only did he have fun, he also gained confidence in other ways – like, he was able to be with the group more and he has got better when he is in different restaurants.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to use all the leisure opportunities available in the home and the garden area. All children and young people were involved in creating the newly installed sensory garden. This has enabled them to enjoy an area that engages all five senses. Photographs evidenced that children and young people had great fun, planning and planting in their new garden.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people are involved in many key aspects of decision-making in the home, including making decisions about their individual and group activities and about food that they like. Staff enable and support the young people to have a voice and to have their views listened to through a variety of communication systems. Barriers to communication are overcome by the persistence and patience of skilled staff who are trained in different methods of communication. This has given children and young people diverse ways of securing meaningful engagement in which their feelings and Inspection report children’s home: SC066218 5 views are at the heart of everyday practice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There continues to be good education provision in place for all young people. Key workers attend and contribute to review meetings so that they are aware of any changes. Communication between the home and the school is very good, and information regarding young people’s anxieties, behaviours and general moods is shared to ensure that there is a consistent level of care in both settings. Staff from the home share individual care plans for young people with the school, for example, how to support young people’s intimate care needs. This means that the school and the home staff take a collaborative approach and this has led to very good outcomes for young people. A social worker said: ‘The home has been really proactive in working with the school to ensure that my young person’s intimate care plan is followed and this has resulted in a huge improvement.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have registered children and young people with a range of external services such as general practitioners, opticians and dentists. They proactively liaise with external colleagues to review each young person’s physical health and emotional well-being. Detailed health plans help the staff team to keep up to date with each child and young person’s individual health needs. This prioritises their unique needs and results in them making significant progress in meeting agreed milestones. For example, a child who had not been to the dentist for a considerable period was supported by staff in receiving significant dental treatment. A social worker said: ‘He had not been to the dentist prior to going to live there. It was impressive that they managed to support and calm him enough to go through the intensive dental work. I would say that this is because they have formed a really trusting relationship.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, there have been no new admissions to or discharges from the home. One young person will be 18 later this year, and the home and the social worker have started planning meetings for his move into supported living. This is essential in order to ensure that the young person’s needs are fully considered and that plans progress within a structured timescale.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Very good arrangements are in place to support young people with contact with families and friends, and the home has developed a weekly report that supports communication between the home and parents. This means that parents receive regular updates on the progress of their child. A social worker said: ‘The staff are excellent at supporting contact and have built up a very good relationship with his parent.’

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

Children and young people are observed to be happy, relaxed and settled in their home. One young person told the inspector that the home was ‘a good place’ and that staff were ‘great’. Observations of staff interaction and supervision of children and young people indicated that staff were very alert to any potential risks. The close supervision and high staffing ratios did not impact on the domestic, homely environment.

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

Risk assessments and care plans are reviewed to reflect the changing needs of children Inspection report children’s home: SC066218 6 and young people. They are supported to manage their behaviour with individual risk assessments and behaviour support plans detailing triggers, behaviours, strategies for de-escalation and intervention. Staff are calm and consistent in their approach as they support children and young people in times of high anxiety. Children and young people have an awareness of the boundaries and have a good understanding of their routines, knowing what is expected of them. The home does not use sanctions, as this would have little effect due to the cognitive level of understanding of children and young people.

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

A clearly written safeguarding policy is in place and staff receive training in safeguarding, which is regularly updated. The home has systems in place to inform the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) and the local authority designated officer of any concerns as they arise. These measures help to ensure that unsuitable people do not have the opportunity to harm children and young people or to place them at risk. Children and young people do not go missing from the home due to the high staff ratios and the level of supervision.

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

Bullying does not take place in the home. However, all staff are alert to the possibility of children and young people upsetting others. Staffing levels are high and levels of supervision are excellent, care planning is very strong and individualised, and relationships between children and young people are very good. If children and young people are upset or anxious, staff respond sensitively and skilfully to help them to manage their emotions. Physical intervention has been required at a low level to guide a young person. Overall, records are carefully and clearly documented and include observations of the young person’s behaviour before, after and during the intervention. However, one record indicated that the staff members involved in the intervention carried out a debrief. This is contrary to the home’s own policies and procedures, which state that an independent person should carry out a debrief.

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

Staff follow the home’s policy and procedure when administering medication. Staff access training and are observed and assessed during administration to ensure that they comply with the procedure. Medication is stored as required, with regular review and audit.

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

The physical environment is safe and protects children and young people from accidental injury. Environmental risk assessments accurately reflect identified risks and potential hazards. Health and safety processes are robust. Each child and young person has a detailed individual risk assessment that staff understand. As a result, the home is able to take all necessary steps to reduce the likelihood of children and young people being at risk of harm. Staff understand fire safety systems and how to respond if emergencies occur. The safety of children and young people is promoted further through good environmental health and food safety processes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

An experienced and qualified registered manager leads the home. He is a strong and Inspection report children’s home: SC066218 7 caring leader. A deputy manager who uses her experience and knowledge to encourage a very dedicated staff team supports him. It is a testament to the management and staff team’s commitment to young people that they have been successful in achieving accreditation from the National Autistic Society and have been awarded an ‘Investment in People’ gold award.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Young people benefit significantly from the care and support of a stable and competent staff team. There is a good mix of experience, genders and ages. Staff confirm that they feel well supported in their day-to-day practice and are extremely complimentary about the managers, who are described as having an ‘open door policy’. One member of staff said: ‘The managers are always accessible to us. They encourage us to share our ideas for the plans for the young people.’ Staff receive regular professional supervision that is of high quality. A staff member said: ‘I value the supervision because I can discuss better ways of working.’ Staff are accountable in their work with young people, and receive oversight and guidance from managers whom they trust. Staff care practice is regularly appraised and they receive a good level of training, which promotes their overall development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings take place regularly. This allows the staff team to discuss the running of the home and to look at ways to improve the service that it offers. Staff also use this time to reflect on children and young people’s progress and to decide how best to support them. A team meeting was observed as part of the inspection. This was seen to be child and young person focused. Staff presented throughout the meeting as professional, knowledgeable and passionate about their work. Staffing levels are good and rotas clearly show the management arrangements that are in place on a daily basis.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Care planning documents held within the home are of very good quality. However, some records are not dated. The deputy manager does carry out audits of all documentation held within the home; however, she agreed that these shortfalls had not been identified in the current auditing system. She has made a commitment to review and revise her systems to ensure that complete and accurate records are kept.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers are proactive in their efforts to maintain strong links with partner agencies, including local authorities, education professionals and healthcare providers. Such agencies report that the home works with them to ensure that young people’s needs, risks and vulnerabilities are safely and caringly met. A social worker said: ‘The communication is second to none. They constantly send us updates and provide very comprehensive reports.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff are proud of the progress that children and young people have made since moving into the home. They demonstrate a commitment to making further improvement in the lives of children and young people who live at the home. A staff member said: ‘The group holiday was fantastic; I couldn’t stop smiling the entire time, because I could see the happiness written all over their faces.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff practice is supported by comprehensive guidance, policies and procedures. The home has appropriate systems in place to notify Ofsted and other relevant bodies of Inspection report children’s home: SC066218 8 significant events that occur within the home or with children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Visitors to the home are not routinely asked to sign in. This potentially places children and young people at risk of harm and does not allow the manager to have an overview of who and when visitors are in the home. Furthermore, recruitment practices require some minor improvements, for example ensuring that all staff submit on their application form a record of the exact months and years of their employment history.

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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: SC066218 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: c/o Harrison Latham, 97 Tulketh Street, Birkenhead, Merseyside PR8 1AW

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Inspector

Elaine Allison, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC066218 10 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.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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