Children's home run by Pathway Care Solutions Ltd in Bolton

Inspection report children’s home: SC008810 1 SC008810 Registered provider: Pathway Care Solutions Ltd 04004053

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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 home is registered to care for four children who have emotional and behavioural difficulties. It is owned and managed by a private organisation.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 20 to 21 November 2018

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC008810 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/10/2017 Full Good 02/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 04/10/2016 Full Good 23/02/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC008810 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(c)(d)) 22/01/2019

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Recommendations

 Staff should have the skills and confidence to communicate easily and understand the importance of listening to, involving and responding to the children they care for. Staff should understand that they have a responsibility to observe, notice and respond to children who are expressing their views, acknowledging that it is not the sole responsibility of the child to ‘tell’. They should also understand how children might communicate their feelings through their behaviour, or non- verbally especially where the child has a disability which does not allow them to communicate as others might (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.10). This specifically Inspection report children’s home: SC008810 4 relates to direct work with children.  The policy should address general principles for behaviour management in children’s homes which include: treating each child with understanding, dignity,

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Recommendations

kindness and respect; building, protecting and preserving positive relationships between each child and the adults caring for them; understanding each child’s behaviour to allow their needs, aspirations, experiences and strengths to be recognised and their quality of life to be enhanced; involving children and relevant others wherever practical in behaviour management; supporting each child to balance safety from injury (harm) with making appropriate choices; making sure the child’s rights are upheld. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.35)  The registered person should ensure that all incidents of control, discipline and restraint are subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure that their use is fair and the above principles as set out in 9.35 are respected (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36).

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Recommendations

The above two recommendations are made in relation to consistent behaviour management and physical intervention practices.  The registered person is responsible for ensuring that all staff consistently follow the home’s policies and procedures for the benefit of the children in the home’s care. Everyone working at the home must understand their roles and responsibilities and what they are authorised to decide on their own initiative. There should be clear lines of accountability. Each home must have clear arrangements in place to maintain effective management when the manager is absent, off duty or on leave (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.20). In particular, the registered manager is to review induction processes to ensure that codes of conduct are shared with staff and relevant policies and procedures, i.e. whistleblowing.  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and

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Recommendations

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 the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) Inspection report children’s home: SC008810 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress given their starting points. Children live in a home that is safe, and staff offer them nurturing care. Children are supported to progress in all aspects of their development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children generally have long-term placements at the home. Maintaining long-term placements represents progress in relation to children’s previous placement experiences. Children have good relationships with staff. One child named the staff she would speak to if she needed to and said: ‘Staff made me feel really welcome when I came. They are always happy.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children are in education and their attendance is excellent. Children are making progress in relation to their academic attainment. Children are encouraged to aspire and to consider the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive support with their emotional health and well-being. The manager plans to develop research-informed practice and embed this more into everyday practice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported well in maintaining positive family connections. A grandmother made the follow comments about her grandson: ‘He is happy there and I am happy with the home. The assistant manager brings him for contact and we have a chat.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Stakeholder feedback was unanimously positive. Agencies spoke about the commitment of the managers and staff and how children are settled and do very well. A social worker said: ‘She [the child] tells me that staff are really lovely. The staff seem experienced, and I have been really impressed with how staff have taken things on board. They also take any safeguarding matters seriously.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, children’s health needs are well understood. This has led to one child no longer requiring medication. For another child, further assessment is required regarding his health and development needs, and staff are considering help from health services. A requirement is made in respect of this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has experienced change in relation to staffing. These changes relate to managers and care staff. Since the appointment of the new manager, progress has been made in improving some of the systems. Key working has started to take place more regularly, and staff are completing key-work planners. A recommendation is made in relation to direct work, ensuring that these sessions are used well and that staff approach them creatively. Inspection report children’s home: SC008810 6

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

Staff have a good understanding of the children and any potential risks. Since the last inspection, work has progressed on improving the quality of risk assessments. Staff understand the need for children to become independent and to take age-appropriate risks. They help children to manage their behaviours and, over time, reduce risks.

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

Children reported that they feel safe at the home and know who to talk to if they need to. Most children have access to an independent advocate.

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

Children rarely go missing from the home. If this does happen, staff are proactive in their responses and know the appropriate protocols to follow.

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

There has been some inconsistency in the implementation of behaviour management and the use of physical intervention. Not all staff are sufficiently trained regarding physical intervention practice. A recommendation is made in relation to this.

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

Staff understand their safeguarding duties. Staff know what to do in the event of safeguarding concerns, and they ensure that issues are taken seriously and reported to relevant agencies.

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

Staff induction programmes need to be improved to ensure that staff are clear about the home’s expectations and the code of conduct. Whistleblowing procedures also need to be more clearly outlined as part of the induction processes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is relatively new in post and is yet to register with Ofsted. However, in a short time he has identified the strengths and areas of development for the service. The manager and assistant manager are passionate and aspirational for the children. A therapeutic social worker said: ‘The assistant manager attends every meeting in relation to the child. He has a very good, [trusting] relationship with her. We couldn’t wish for a better working relationship.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager recognises that the team has experienced a period of change, but the team has maintained a stable, safe environment for children. The team has provided children with consistency, and the children have experienced trusting relationships with staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is implementing a number of positive changes in relation to behaviour management, children’s meetings, the use of theoretical models of care, incident recording, planning of activities, and key-work sessions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has taken appropriate action in relation to safeguarding matters. Any incidents are investigated thoroughly, and any performance management issues are managed effectively. Inspection report children’s home: SC008810 7 The manager and assistant manager work well together. The managers communicate effectively and work positively with the children and staff at the home. The managers have developed good partnerships with other agencies. This has led to holistic approaches and interventions for children, which have been positive and beneficial.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

During the period when the manager was not actively in post, a number of systems did not function well, and some recording required improvement. However, safeguarding processes were followed, and the remaining team and the assistant manager continued to focus on the needs of the children and outcomes for them. A recommendation is made in relation to recording.

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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: SC008810 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Pathway Care Solutions Ltd 04004053

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Merchant’s Place, River Road, Bolton, Lancashire BL2 1BX

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Inspector:

Bev Allison, social care regulatory inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC008810 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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