Children's home run by After Care (NW) Limited in Sefton

Inspection report children’s home: SC063673 1 SC063673 Registered provider: After Care (NW) 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 privately run children’s home provides care and accommodation for up to four young people who have complex needs and behaviours.

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Information about this children’s home

There is no registered manager at the home. The interim manager is in the process of submitting her application to Ofsted.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC063673 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/08/2017 Full Good 09/05/2017 Full Inadequate 08/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 05/05/2016 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children’s home: SC063673 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 registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement (‘‘the statement of purpose’’) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it. (Regulation 16(1)(3)(a)) 2/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met; children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans; and that each child has access to such dental, medical, nursing, psychiatric and psychological advice, and other services as the child may require. (Regulation 10(1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(i)(c)) 2/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

Restraint in relation to a child must be necessary and proportionate. (Regulation 20(2)) 2/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that— a record is kept of the administration of medicine to each child. (Regulation 23(1)(2)(c)) 2/11/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC063673 4 The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if there is no registered manager in respect of the home. (Regulation 27(1)(a)) 2/11/2018

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Recommendations

 Ensure that a record of supervision is kept for staff that provides evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)

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Recommendations

 For children’s home to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases be homely, domestic environments. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food, hygiene etc.); however, in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15 paragraph 3.9)

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Recommendations

 Registered persons have a key role in seeking to develop the home’s effective working relationships with each child’s placing authority and with other relevant persons. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.3)

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Recommendations

 Under regulation 46 the registered person should review the appropriateness and suitability of the location and premises of the home at least once a year. The review should 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)

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Recommendations

 Regulation 40(4) requires the registered person to notify Ofsted and other relevant persons if one of the situations specified in regulation 40(4) (a)–(d) occurs, or if there is an incident relating to the protection, safeguarding or welfare of a child living in the home which the registered person considers to be serious (40)(4)(e)). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.10) Inspection report children’s home: SC063673 5

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improvement to be good

The overall judgement for this home is requires improvement to be good. This is because there has been no registered manager for over 26 weeks. However, a new manager has been appointed and is in the process of submitting her application to Ofsted.

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improvement to be good

Staff have a good understanding of the needs of each young person living at the home and provide them with a high level of care and support. This care and support helps to improve the overall experience and progress for young people. Young people are happy and settled living at the home. A young person said, ‘This is the best children’s home I have lived in, and I have lived in quite a few. This is the first place that I have properly unpacked instead of living out of a suitcase, because it feels like a home.’

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improvement to be good

Young people know how important education is and respond well to the education incentives in place. They are supported to attend and engage in education regularly, and this has helped them to successfully complete their final examinations at school. Consequently, outcomes in education have improved for the young people. The manager and staff have helped the young people to identify college courses that are of interest to them and both young people are looking forward to moving on to further education.

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improvement to be good

The health needs of young people are not always met well. One young person has not had a statutory health assessment in the required timescale and has not attended the dentist since moving into the home. The manager and staff have failed to take suitable action to address this. Furthermore, placement and health plans do not provide information on the young people’s healthcare needs or how they are being met.

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improvement to be good

Young people regularly share their views about the home and the plans for their care. Young people have regular discussions with their key workers, other staff and the registered manager during young people’s meetings and key-work sessions. Young people feel able to talk to staff and are confident that they are listened to, and that their views are acted upon whenever possible.

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improvement to be good

The home environment is warm and welcoming, and improvements are continually made to the decoration, furniture and soft furnishings. Young people personalise their bedrooms and keep them clean and tidy as part of their independence plans. However, a young person spoke about the bathroom being ‘pitch black’ at night because the light bulb needed to be replaced for at least a week. The bulb was replaced during the inspection. Inspection report children’s home: SC063673 6

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improvement to be good

Generally, safeguarding practice helps to keep young people safe from harm. Young people say that they feel safe and that staff do all that they can to help and protect them. Risk assessments for young people include details of the risks that they face and the strategies in place to manage and reduce risks. Consequently, risks for young people are managed well and have reduced. However, on one occasion the manager failed to inform Ofsted of a serious safeguarding incident for a young person relating to child sexual exploitation.

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improvement to be good

The approach to behaviour management is good and helps the young people to manage their behaviour. An effective reward and incentive points system has been implemented in agreement with the young people. This approach has had a positive impact on the young people’s behaviour and has resulted in more settled behaviour and improved engagement. Subsequently, outcomes and independence skills have improved for the young people.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager and staff are alert to any indication of bullying and take immediate action to tackle it. Staff work with the young people to raise their awareness about bullying and how they should respond, report and tackle it. Consequently, young people feel empowered to take action that helps to safeguard them and others from bullying or harassment.

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improvement to be good

Medication records do not always detail the amount of medication young people have taken. For example, the records for one young person state on numerous occasions that she has been given two tablets while also being ticked to indicate that she declined the medication. The inaccuracies in the recording of medication are confusing and do not demonstrate that young people are taking medication as prescribed.

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improvement to be good

Records of physical intervention do not always include the length of time of the intervention. Also, one record states that a physical intervention for a young person involving up to three staff lasted for 45 minutes. The record does not demonstrate that this level of intervention was necessary and proportionate given that the young person was reported to have returned to ‘baseline behaviour’ after a couple of minutes struggling in the restraint.

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improvement to be good

The manager has not liaised with relevant professionals to gather information to enable her to undertake a thorough assessment of the home’s location. This lack of liaison does not demonstrate that all risks in the community have been identified and that there are strategies in place to manage the risks that will help to keep the young people safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers is judged as inadequate as there has been no registered manager for over 26 weeks. However, a new manager has been appointed and is in the process of submitting her application to Ofsted. Inspection report children’s home: SC063673 7 The home’s statement of purpose includes old photographs of unknown children, with no consent in place for this, and the photograph of the home’s living room does not reflect how the room now looks. Consequently, the statement of purpose does not meet regulation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Supervision enables staff to reflect on their practice and the needs of the young people. It also helps the manager to support staff and to monitor their professional development. However, there have been some gaps in the frequency of supervision for some staff. Although this has not yet had an adverse impact, it has the potential to do so if this continues.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The feedback from others including social workers, a children looked after’s nurse and a parent during the inspection was mixed. A parent spoke positively about her child’s good progress and the positive experience since moving into the home. She praised the manager and staff for their hard work and the good level of communication with her. However, a children looked after’s nurse voiced concern about the lack of communication and action from the manager and staff in relation to meeting the health needs of a young person.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home’s monitoring and review systems need to be strengthened. The response to the external monitoring of the home is inconsistent. There is limited evidence of the manager and staff reflecting on the findings and taking sufficient action to address the shortfalls identified by the monthly monitoring. Furthermore, the six-month quality of care review completed by the manager was not sent to Ofsted in line with regulation.

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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: SC063673 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: After Care (NW) Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 45 Kensington Road, Southport, Merseyside PR9 0RT

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Timothy Blundell

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Inspector

Lisa Mulcahy, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC063673 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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