Children's Home run by Meadows Care Limited in Oldham

Inspection report children‟s home: SC066072 1 SC066072 Registered provider: Meadows Care Ltd

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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 is one of a number of children‟s homes operated by a private company. The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three children or young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

If required, children and young people can access the organisation‟s school and therapy department.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC066072 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/08/2017 Full Outstanding 16/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 18/07/2016 Full Outstanding 22/03/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC066072 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6(2)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, repair all of the damage caused by children and young people, replace any damaged furniture and flooring and redecorate and refurbish those areas of the home that are not homely. 26/07/2018

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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 staff—

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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))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that agency and relief staff have a sufficient understanding of each child‟s risk management strategies, and that they take effective action in accordance with these plans. 26/07/2018

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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—

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Requirement Due date

ensures that the home‟s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13(2)(e))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, reduce significantly the home‟s reliance on the use of agency and relief staff. 26/07/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC066072 4

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Recommendations

 Staffing structures should promote continuity of care from the child‟s perspective. If children complain, or give a view on how the staffing structure could be improved to promote the best care for them, appropriate action should be taken. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 54, paragraph 10.15)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should consider any induction necessary before agency staff and relief staff commence work in the home. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 54, paragraph 10.16) Specifically, provide time for these staff to receive a comprehensive handover that familiarises them with their role in meeting each child or young person‟s needs.

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Recommendations

 The regulation 45 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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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The core staff team works in a determined way to deliver a programme of individualised care and support. This provides children and young people with the opportunities to improve their lives and has been effective in helping some young people to make good progress relative to their starting points and time in placement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are caring well for the current group of children and young people. Two of the children and young people are making exceedingly good progress in many aspects of their lives. Progress is slow for the third young person, and the main focus is on keeping her safe and trying to engage her in the programme of support on offer to her. Staff are tenacious in their efforts to encourage and support her to invest in her placement, and to recognise and achieve her potential. The young person‟s social worker wrote, „I am happy with the care being offered to [name] and believe the staff genuinely care and want what‟s best for her.‟ An education tutor said, „The staff and manager have been amazing in supporting me, especially when [name] has been challenging. They have encouraged her to engage in her education and keep trying despite her reluctance.‟

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Care planning and care practice are highly influenced by the therapeutic input provided by the organisation‟s therapy team. Staff work closely with the therapists, who provide individual support for children and young people, as well as clinical support for staff. This Inspection report children‟s home: SC066072 5 combined support has been highly effective in helping one young person to explore and express his gender identity. Indeed, equality and diversity are real strengths in this home, in which difference is celebrated and respected by staff, children and young people alike.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people are positive about their care experiences. One young person said, „This is the best place I have ever lived, and the staff are great. I get to do loads of fun things. I am really happy here.‟ In a letter written for the inspector, another wrote, „I love living at [the home]. It is a good house and deserves its outstanding back at some point. Things have been up and down with staffing and the house should be better, but it is still a good home to live in.‟

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Notice to close placements has been served on two children and young people since the last inspection. It was recognised that their unwillingness to engage with staff or make any changes to their risk-taking and challenging behaviour was detrimental to both staff and other children and young people. In these circumstances, the manager has worked closely with the placing authority to enable and support the children and young people to transition into semi-independent living or return home.

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

Children and young people are protected by a range of safeguarding measures, such as systems for dealing with safeguarding concerns and allegations. Staff are trained in safeguarding and are fully aware of their responsibilities in this respect. Links with external safeguarding agencies and professionals are in place, and have been used effectively when managing the two allegations made against staff.

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

Risk assessments and behaviour management plans are informative and current. Overall, staff demonstrate a good understanding of these documents and apply the agreed risk management strategies effectively. The manager is aware of the need to improve how agency and relief staff familiarise themselves with these documents prior to working with the children and young people.

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

Staff talk to the children and young people about the consequences of their risk-taking behaviour and encourage them to make better choices about keeping themselves safe. The effectiveness of this approach is variable, and for some children and young people this has had little or no impact in reducing incidents of assaults on staff, missing from care and substance misuse. In these situations, the manager has involved relevant professionals and agencies to take a multi-agency approach to managing and reducing concerning behaviours. When this has been ineffective managers have acknowledged their inability to safeguard and alternative placements have been found.

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

Staff take a calm approach to behaviour management. Incidents of conflict are met with negotiation and compromise. Staff demonstrate patience and high tolerance thresholds when managing challenging behaviour. This has included them being assaulted on occasions. Despite this, there are very few incidents of restraint. When restraint has been used, it is generally breakaway techniques rather than restrictive holds. Inspection report children‟s home: SC066072 6

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There has been a change in manager since the last inspection. The current manager was registered with Ofsted in April 2018 and has recently enrolled on the level 5 diploma. She demonstrates a good commitment to the children and young people and is fully involved in planning their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Providing children and young people with continuity of care has presented a major challenge since the last inspection. Various factors have resulted in an over-reliance on agency and relief staff at times. Indeed, records indicate that since the last inspection children and young people have been cared for by over 68 different adults. These are in addition to the core staff team, which has also changed on a number of occasions. Children and young people have raised this as a concern. However, as yet managers have failed to find a long-term solution to the problem. One young person said. „I get on with most people, but it is hard when someone who doesn‟t know the rules or what to do when it “kicks off” is working here.‟

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Information about children and young people in the form of a „pen picture‟ should be read and understood by agency and relief staff prior to them working with the children and young people. However, this is not always given the priority it deserves and has, on a small number of occasions, resulted in poor decision-making because staff do not understand how to respond to challenging and risky behaviour.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The core team of resilient staff shows tenacity and unconditional commitment to the children and young people in its care. Staff are provided with regular supervision that is used productively to reflect on current issues and identify the best ways of supporting themselves, as well as the children and young people. Training needs are recognised and provided for well, with all staff being up to date with mandatory training. In addition, staff are provided with needs-led training that ensures that the staff are equipped to understand and respond to the presenting needs and behaviours of each child or young person.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager makes reasonably good use of a range of internal and external quality assurance processes to manage and influence the day-to-day operation of the home. This information is collated into the six-monthly review of the quality of care, which overall is evaluative and informative. The resulting report identifies areas for improvement. However, there is no tangible plan to identify how areas of weakness, such as staffing and the physical environment, are to be improved. The manager recognises the need to improve her approach in terms of strategic and long-term planning.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The general decor, furnishings and maintenance of the home require significant improvement. Damage caused by some children and young people is evident throughout the home, with only two bedrooms in the whole house being homely and damage free. Problems include damaged doors, walls and furniture, a mouldy shower with cracked tiles, and offensive graffiti aimed at staff on one young person‟s bedroom wall. Inspection report children‟s home: SC066072 7

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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: SC066072 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Egerton House, Wardle Road, Rochdale OL12 9EN

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Stephanie Pollitt Alison O‟Connor

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Inspector(s)

Paul Scott, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC066072 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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