Children's home run by N H Care Limited in Birmingham

Inspection report children’s home: SC446152 1 SC446152 Registered provider: Nh Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for three children who have learning disabilities and/or emotional and social needs. The home is privately owned. The manager has been registered with Ofsted since May 2017. The manager is undertaking a level 5 diploma in leadership and management, with an expected completion date of December 2019.

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC446152 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/07/2017 Full Good 20/12/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/07/2016 Full Good 16/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC446152 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— In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received, and use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(2)(g)(ii)(h)) 11/01/2019

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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. 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)) 11/01/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain in the home the records in schedule 4. (Regulation 37 (2)(a)) 11/01/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard). When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (Regulation 46 (1)(2)) 11/01/2019

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Recommendations

 The home’s policies and procedures around the protection of children should reflect any requirements of other relevant legislation. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 44, paragraph 9.22) Inspection report children’s home: SC446152 4  If it is likely that there might only be one member of staff on duty at any time the manager should make a formal assessment of the implications for children’s care, including any likely risks. This assessment should be recorded and available for inspection by Ofsted and placing authorities. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.18)  Ensure that children are encouraged by staff to see the home’s records as ‘living documents’ supporting them to view and contribute to the record in a way that reflects their voice on a regular basis. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations

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Recommendations

including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.19)  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)  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy good relationships with staff. One child told the inspector, ‘I’m doing great. The staff are great. [Name of manager] is the best manager ever. He made sure we got all of our things for our bedrooms. I’ve done really well because they have helped me to change my behaviour from how I was before. I am now more focused on my school work and do better.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children like attending school. All children are making good progress. This is made possible because of the positive relationships that staff have built with the children’s teachers. One child has made significant progress with his reading and there have been improvements with his speech. One teacher told the inspector, ‘The home is supportive and he is making progress.’ For another child, staff support during lunchtime has prevented her having to move schools. Maintaining the school placement has given the child stability and has helped her to learn. The teacher shared with the inspector, ‘They are doing a good job and it’s having a good impact.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy good health and staff ensure that children attend routine health appointments. When children have specific health needs, staff make quick referrals to specialist services. Inspection report children’s home: SC446152 5 Staff training in therapeutic approaches and ongoing consultations with psychologists positively impact on how staff work with the children. For example, individual work with one child has helped her to be more confident. One psychologist told the inspector, ‘Identity work was done before the summer which enabled her to stand up in school and talk confidently. It is the home that has helped her achieve that.’ Increased staff understanding of therapeutic parenting has supported some staff to adopt a more curious approach to their work.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from taking part in hobbies such as swimming, dancing and gymnastics. Children enjoy freshly prepared food, which they help to choose and to cook. This includes children being able to enjoy favourite foods such as chicken foot soup.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

In keeping with individual plans, staff encourage children to practise their faiths, including attending a place of worship and saying prayers. Staff promote contact with family as agreed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, the home has been refurbished, including complete redecoration and the installation of domestic-style lighting. This refurbishment, combined with new cushions and accessories, has made the home an inviting and comfortable place for children to live.

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

Children are clear about expectations for behaviour. The use of a reward scheme and a treat box encourages children to behave well.

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

In keeping with children’s communication preferences, staff use relevant communication aids to undertake direct work with children. This work can include understanding bullying, what is abuse, stranger danger and crossing the road. This work helps children to understand how to keep themselves safe. Staff supervision, parental controls and direct work with children about the benefits and risks of using the internet help to increase children’s safety online.

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

The use of physical intervention has decreased since the spring. The use of physical intervention is now rare. One child has made significant progress and is now able to self- control her own behaviour. Since the last inspection, managers have acted to ensure that when physical intervention is necessary, records are detailed and children can speak to an independent person.

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

Staff receive training to raise their awareness of their safeguarding responsibilities. High levels of support ensure that children do not go missing from the home. Staff are clear about the actions to take should a child go missing.

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

When safeguarding concerns have arisen in the home, the registered manager has taken prompt action to ensure that children are safe and that the right agencies are notified in a timely way. Inspection report children’s home: SC446152 6 Organisational policy sets out the arrangements for managing medication in the home. However, the registered manager has not ensured that staff know how to record the administration of a cream and bath oil for one child. Consequently, the recording of the administration of these treatments is inconsistent and it is unclear if the child has received these medications as prescribed.

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

In recent months, the staff team has become more stable. Consequently, children benefit from consistent care from permanent staff who know them well. However, the registered manager has not evaluated the impact on children’s care when staff work alone with children. This means that it is unclear if there are any risks that need a management plan.

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

Managers are unable to show that they hold the information required by regulation about staff who have previously worked in the home. This means that necessary information about who has worked with the children is not available should it be needed.

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

A lack of attention to detail compromises the usefulness of the registered manager’s monitoring of the operation of the home. For example, despite the registered manager taking swift action to address shortfalls during the inspection, the registered manager was unaware that staff had stored a child’s memory box in an outside shed and that there was a hole in a child’s bedroom floor covering. Although the registered manager has received feedback from children and professionals about the quality of care, it is hard to see how this has been used to help improve the home. Shortfalls in the registered manager’s use of monitoring systems reduce the opportunities to take prompt action to enhance the quality of care for children.

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

The registered manager has reviewed the suitability of the location of the home. However, the review is weak. For example, despite regular meetings with the police and collecting local crime statistics, the registered manager has not included the information gained in his analysis of risks in the local area. This means that the level of risk posed to children in the local area is unclear.

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

Progress in staff ensuring that children’s records are up to date, clear and child-focused is slow. For example, staff do not always update children’s daily reward charts. In addition, staff do not encourage children to comment on their daily records or the home’s plans for them. Shortfalls in record-keeping and in involving children in the overall development of their care limit children’s influence on, and understanding of, the care that they receive.

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

The provider has policies and procedures to help to support staff in safeguarding children. However, managers are not familiar with recent changes in statutory guidance, in particular ‘Working together to safeguard children 2018’. Consequently, safeguarding policies have not been reviewed to ensure that they remain current.

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

Staff have regular supervision and are positive about the support that they receive from Inspection report children’s home: SC446152 7 the registered manager. One member of staff told the inspector, ‘I would rate the support as 10/10. He is easy to speak to and tells us we can ask for help.’ However, supervision does not enable staff to reflect on the training that they are receiving and how this applies to their practice. This means that staff miss an opportunity to think about how they are using their learning to support children’s ongoing development.

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

Professionals, including teachers, a social worker and a health professional, are unanimously positive about the service. One teacher told the inspector, ‘With the new manager, the quality of the home has changed for the better.’

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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: SC446152 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 3 Shetland Close, Birmingham, Warwickshire B16 0RF

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Inspector

Alison Cooper: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC446152 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

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Inspector

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Inspector

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