Children's home run by Quantum Care UK Limited in North Northamptonshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC459934 1 SC459934 Registered provider: Quantum Care UK 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 children’s home is part of a large organisation operated by a private company. The home provides care for up to six children and young people who have 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

Date of last inspection: 31 January 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Key findings from this inspection

 The staff team is skilled, dedicated and resilient. They have warm and supportive relationships with young people.  Safeguarding practice is good. Risks are understood and managed effectively. Inspection report children’s home: SC459934 2 This means that young people become increasingly safe.  Leaders and managers are skilled, knowledgeable and highly motivated. They ensure that a committed staff team provides the best possible standards of care.  Care and placement planning significantly influences the progress and experiences of young people.

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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

 Managers need to further improve monitoring systems. In particular, managers need to evaluate the impact of the home’s care on the progress and experience of young people.  Young people need to have independent return home interviews when they have been missing from the home. The information from these interviews should be used to inform risk assessments and underpin preventative strategies.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

31/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 01/06/2016 Full Good 17/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 08/12/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC459934 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that helps children fulfil their potential and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular that standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— Understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b) (2)(f))

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Requirement Due date

This is with particular regard to ensuring that accurate records are kept in relation to significant incidents. Additionally, that patterns, trends and concerns are evaluated effectively to ascertain causal links and identify preventative actions. 19/02/2018

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the home takes into account the information provided within return home interviews after any missing from home incident, 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)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to develop warm and positive relationships with young people. Regardless of some instances of challenging behaviour from young people, staff are resilient and Inspection report children’s home: SC459934 4 remain child-focused. Staff strive to understand the underlying reasons for any challenging behaviour. The acting manager said: ‘We are here as adults to help them understand themselves and learn better ways to cope.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people benefit from care that is tailored to their unique personal needs and circumstances. Staff work in accordance with young people’s individual care plans. Social care professionals are consistently consulted about care and placement plan arrangements. When concerns arise, managers ensure that there are timely case discussions and meetings with placing authorities. Case files are maintained to a high standard and show that staff are diligent in taking actions to progress actions set out in care plans. Young people are encouraged to complete their own care plans, thereby fully involving them in their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Educational engagement and attendance are variable at this home. The majority of young people attend the provider’s own school and then progress to mainstream schools and colleges. One young person recently left to go university. She sent a letter to the staff to thank them for all their help. She said that without their support, she would not have achieved so well. In situations when young people are not in education or training, they receive private tuition, and a curriculum is devised in the home based on a personal, social and health education. In all cases, staff are persistent in supporting and encouraging young people to attend education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Health outcomes for young people improve because of their care in this home. Staff work proactively with a range of healthcare professionals to manage the routine and specific health needs of young people. If young people smoke, staff try to educate young people about the risks. Staff provide advice, guidance and support on a range of health-related subjects. When young people have specific risk-taking behaviours that compromise their health, staff encourage them to meet with specialist workers. This means that young people receive advice and a better understanding of key health risks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people say that they are consulted about their day-to-day care. They make choices on a wide range of issues, including activities, menu planning and personalising their bedrooms. They can express their views in a range of ways and exercise their rights. They have mobile phones, use of the home’s phone, a children and young person’s guide and access to advocacy services. Young people confirm that they know how to make a complaint. Records of complaints made since the last inspection show that complaints are treated seriously. Managers make sure that young people know the outcome of their complaints, and try to ensure that young people are happy with the outcome.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This home provides good day-to-day care for young people. The home is well organised, homely and comfortable. The environment is relaxed and calm. Routines are consistent, which supports young people in their education and in developing self-care skills. Meals are Inspection report children’s home: SC459934 5 wholesome, tasty and varied. Young people confirm that they like the home, their bedrooms and the food.

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

Since the last inspection, young people have gone missing from the home, and there have been unauthorised absences. Experienced staff are effective in managing these situations, and over time, missing from home incidents reduce for the majority of young people. However, when young people return to the home, they do not always have an independent return home interview. This fails to capture essential information about why young people leave the home, where they go and possible risks. This was a recommendation made at the last inspection and has been set again at this inspection.

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

Partnership working with the police and safeguarding agencies is effective. Staff work well with other agencies and with parents to assess and reduce risks to the young people in their care. There have been several allegations made against staff since the last inspection. The designated officer said: ‘Managers contact me in a timely manner. They refer appropriately, provide clear information, have good risk management strategies, implement advice and are good at feeding back outcomes.’ This demonstrates robust safeguarding practice.

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

Staff use physical intervention when young people are at risk of harming themselves or others. All staff have up-to-date physical intervention training. Managers analyse the records of physical intervention, but monitoring is not robust. The data held regarding the number of times physical intervention is used is inaccurate. Additionally, patterns and trends in the use of physical intervention are not fully analysed to establish any causal links. A requirement has been made to address this.

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

Self-injurious behaviours are well understood. Staff have experience in working with young people who self-harm. They access specialist support and guidance through regular consultation with independent healthcare specialists. Young people trust staff. They are open with staff about their feelings and how these feelings might lead to self-harm. Staff teach young people alternative coping strategies. This means that over time, young people reduce harmful behaviours.

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

Staff have good safeguarding knowledge. All staff have received mandatory safeguarding training. They also benefit from specific child protection training. This training covers areas such as radicalisation and extremism, sexual exploitation, internet safety and social media. The training provided equips staff to recognise and respond to safeguarding concerns.

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

Health and safety arrangements in the home are a priority. At the time of the inspection, Inspection report children’s home: SC459934 6 the home was having an annual health and safety audit with one of the provider’s health and safety officers. When shortfalls were identified, these were remedied before the end of this inspection. This means that the provider has effective systems to respond swiftly to safety concerns. Managers ensure that there are regular fire equipment checks and fire evacuation drills. Staff and young people know how to respond in the event of a fire. The prescribed level of public and employee liability insurance is in place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager left at the beginning of December 2017. The provider is in the process of recruiting a new manager. The home has good temporary management cover. This means that the day-to-day operation of the home remains good.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Several staff have left since the last inspection. The home has enough staff to provide care for the current number of young people. The provider is currently recruiting additional residential staff. Young people take part in the recruitment of new staff through interviewing candidates as part of the recruitment panel. The provider does not use agency staff. If more staff are required, the home uses residential staff from the provider’s other homes. This provides continuity of care for young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff enjoy a comprehensive and varied training programme. All staff have updated mandatory training. They have gained a recognised qualification, or are working towards one. This means that young people are cared for by competent and knowledgeable staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff and managers confirm that they enjoy good levels of supervision. They feel well supported by the management team. Supervision addresses their professional development and general well-being. Supervision records are of a high quality. They provide evidence of regular child-focused discussions. Supervisory meetings are used to monitor professional performance. Managers and leaders also recognise the emotional impact of the work on practitioners and manage this well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Partnership arrangements with parents and professionals are generally positive. Managers advocate on behalf of young people. They are unafraid to challenge decisions. Managers do this when they feel that the best interests of a young person are not being met. The majority of professionals report having a good level of satisfaction with the quality of care. They say that communication is good .

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

External monitoring systems identify areas for improvement. However, internal monitoring systems are not consistent. Analysis of records during this inspection identified that numerical data was often incorrect. This includes data for young people missing from the home, unauthorised absences and independent return home interviews. The record of individual educational attendance is not accurate. This undermines the manager’s capacity Inspection report children’s home: SC459934 7 to use information to improve the quality of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The acting manager has started work on the home’s new development plan. The plan includes aims such as ‘going green’, increasing social responsibility, creating a young people’s garden project, taking part in charity events and planning activities and holidays. The plans will be developed in consultation with young people. The acting manager is aware of the home’s strengths and the areas that require improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home continues to work in accordance with its stated aims and objectives, as defined in the statement of purpose.

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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: SC459934 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Quantum Care UK Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 5th Floor, 80 Hammersmith Rd, London, W14 8UD

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Inspector

Amanda Ellis, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC459934 9 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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