Children's home run by Hexagon Care Services Limited in Preston

Inspection report children’s home: SC484247 1 SC484247 Registered provider: Hexagon Care 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

This children’s home is operated by a private company. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to six children or young people of either gender.

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Information about this children’s home

A new manager is in post although she is not yet registered with Ofsted. She is in the process of submitting her application.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC484247 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/05/2017 Full Good 17/11/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 21/06/2016 Full Good 25/01/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC484247 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 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—

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Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)) 27/07/2018

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Recommendations

 The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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Recommendations

 The Regulation 45 review should enable the registered person to identify areas of strength and possible weakness in the home’s care, which will be captured in the written report. The report should clearly identify any actions required for the next 6 months of delivery within the home and how those actions will be addressed. The whole review process and the resulting report should be used as a tool for continuous improvement in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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Recommendations

Specifically, to use all the available data, including the feedback gathered from the children and young people and others, to evaluate the quality of care practice and identify actions to improve it. Inspection report children’s home: SC484247 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff team builds strong and warm relationships with the children and young people, enabling them to forge positive attachments. This is helping the children and young people to feel secure and develop a sense of permanence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff team understands how the experiences of children and young people shape their behaviour and how they consequently cope with their challenges well. As a result, the children and young people are developing more effective skills to manage their conflicts and feelings more appropriately.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The majority of the children and young people are making positive progress in their education. When the children and young people experience difficulties, the proactive staff work with partners to re-engage them. They understand the importance of education and are dogged in their efforts to achieve full engagement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The health needs of the majority of children and young people are being looked after well. Staff are tenacious in their attempts to engage any children and young people who are affected by substance misuse. A social worker described the staff as working ‘tirelessly’ to help one young person.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children and young people enjoy a range of activities to enrich their day-to-day lives and experiences. A visit to a local homeless charity has prompted some of the children and young people to look at ways to help others.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff are creative in supporting the cultural identity of the children and young people. A small fridge has been provided in the room of one young person to enable her to have a supply of fresh food during Ramadan.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children and young people maintain and, in some cases, improve their relationships with their families. One family member said she would give the home, ‘11 out of 10!’

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improvement to be good

The children and young people feel safe in the home because of the good interactions between themselves and staff.

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improvement to be good

Positive behaviour is promoted through the use of consistent rules and boundaries. Strong relationships and a restorative approach to managing behaviour result in physical restraint being infrequent.

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improvement to be good

There were frequent episodes of some young people going missing from the home, but these young people have recently moved on. These incidents were escalated Inspection report children’s home: SC484247 5 appropriately, and the manager recognised when the home could no longer keep these young people safe. Feedback from the police is that the staff team is proactive in looking for young people when they are missing.

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improvement to be good

The staff know the vulnerabilities of the children and young people, however the risk assessment for one young person was not updated following a room search. This means that important information to inform his safeguarding needs was not documented. An opportunity to identify further measures to mitigate the risks in this area was missed.

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improvement to be good

The risk assessment document, used by the staff team to inform their care practice, does not adequately highlight the steps staff need to take to reduce all the identified risks.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been an unsettled period of management since the last inspection, however an effective handover between managers means that this has had minimal impact on the children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team is positive about the changes that are taking place as a result of the new management arrangements. However, for some members of staff supervision has not taken place in line with the timescales indicated in the home’s statement of purpose. Recording of these supervision sessions is not sufficiently detailed to allow staff to reflect on and develop their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team has access to a wide range of training on topics such as exploitation through gangs and positive communication techniques. This supports them to meet the needs of the children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A recommendation made at the last inspection is met. All the children and young people who go missing now receive the offer of an independent return home interview to provide them with the opportunity to discuss any worries.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Feedback is gathered from the children and young people, their families and other professionals, but the latest six-monthly review misses an opportunity to use these views to evaluate the effectiveness of the quality of care and to make meaningful plans to improve it.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC484247 6 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: SC484247 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 1 Tustin Court, Riversway, Preston PR2 2YQ

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Inspector

Janet Black, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC484247 8 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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