Children's home run by Potensial Limited in Wirral

Inspection report children’s home: 1221437 1 Registered provider: Potensial 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 short-break centre is operated by a large independent national provider.  The home is registered to provide short-break care and accommodation for up to five children and young people at any one time.  Children and young people must not live permanently at the home.  Children and young people who stay at this home may have learning disabilities and/or physical disabilities.  The manager of the home was registered by Ofsted on 14 March 2016.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 19 to 20 December 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 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

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Recent inspection history

Inspection report children’s home: 1221437 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/05/2017 Full Good 23/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 08/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1221437 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

20: Restraint and deprivation of liberty

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Requirement Due date

Restraint in relation to a child is only permitted for the purpose of preventing injury to any person (including the child); serious damage to the property of any person (including the child); or a child who is accommodated in a secure children’s home from absconding from the home. Restraint in relation to a child must be necessary and proportionate. (Regulation 20(1)(2))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that children and young people are not prevented from having freedom of movement, for example by using zips to secure ‘safe-space’ beds. 20/01/2019

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff are 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 the child (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 14.4). In particular, ensure that the recording of incidents is kept under review and that the document used for this purpose is child focused and facilitates management monitoring.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This children’s home has been rated good at each full inspection since it was registered in 2016. The single regulatory shortfall found during this inspection has had a limited impact on the young person concerned, so it does not affect the overall judgement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide an exceptionally responsive, child-focused service which meets individual Inspection report children’s home: 1221437 4 children and young people’s needs. Warm, nurturing relationships with the staff contribute to the children and young people’s enjoyment of their short breaks. One parent said that her child asks every morning whether he is going to visit the home that day.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home provides an exceptionally attractive, homely environment for each child and young person, with their rooms individualised according to their needs. Since the last inspection, the home has been further enhanced by a new kitchen and the provision of additional play equipment for the garden.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people are kept safe from harm. Their complex healthcare needs are very well met. Medicines are managed and recorded safely.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Consultation with children and young people, parents and professionals takes place regularly to ensure that their views are represented. The staff use a variety of visual and verbal communication systems to enable the children and young people to express their views about every aspect of their care. The home has received extremely positive feedback from all those surveyed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children and young people are encouraged to take part in a wide range of activities, both inside and outside the home. Photos taken during activities are shared with their parents and saved for them in a memory book. This enables the children and young people to have lasting records of their visits to the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has made a significant contribution to the children and young people’s progress. One young person can now, with support from the staff, plan, shop for and cook a meal for everyone. Others are making new friends and learning social and communication skills. Improving their independence skills helps the children and young people to enhance the quality of their lives.

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improvement to be good

This outcome area requires improvement to be good because in one case, there was no Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards protocol in place to safeguard one young person’s rights. A requirement has been made with regard to this. The registered manager took immediate action to resolve the matter and directed staff to cease the practice that involved deprivation of liberty.

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improvement to be good

Effective, regularly updated risk assessments, staff training in safeguarding, and productive relationships with other agencies help the home to keep the children and young people safe from harm. There have been no concerns with regard to the safeguarding of the children and young people.

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improvement to be good

Two new staff have been appointed since the last inspection. The recruitment process is rigorous and helps to reduce the risk of appointing unsuitable people. Inspection report children’s home: 1221437 5 Health and safety checks and fire safety checks are carried out at appropriate intervals. Each child and young person has a personal evacuation plan to assist the fire service and staff in the event of an emergency.

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improvement to be good

The children and young people receive high-quality care to support them when they become distressed or frustrated. As a result, there have been only five restraints since the last inspection. These have been brief interventions which were appropriate to the situations. Children, young people and staff receive good-quality support following any restraint. The staff and manager reflect on each incident afterwards, to help them to apply any learning to future behaviour management.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

This is a well-managed home. The experienced, skilled registered manager is qualified at level 4 in leadership and management, and is currently undertaking the level 5 award. She and her staff are passionate about providing a highly professional, responsive service for children and their families.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff feel very well supported through regular supervision and relevant training. They are highly motivated and said that they love coming to work. As a result, staff turnover is low. Any vacant shifts are filled within the team, to help ensure continuity of care for the children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has a very good understanding of the children and young people’s progress. She monitors all aspects of the service very well. The manager makes effective use of the regular external monitoring from the independent visitor to drive further improvement. She is well supported by the company’s senior leaders, some of whom visited during the inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The responsible individual for this home has recently resigned. Up until recently, she was meeting regularly with the registered manager to provide an overview of the business- related aspects of the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff work exceptionally well with other agencies to support the children and young people effectively. Social workers and parents are extremely positive about the quality of care their children receive. They said that the home provides an excellent, highly supportive short-break service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

At the previous inspection, there was an isolated example of a medicine record which did not include the dosage. This was remedied immediately. At this inspection, medicine records were found to be well maintained.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The children and young people’s records are of good quality and provide sufficient information. However, the incident reporting form has changed since the last inspection. This document is not of the same high standard as the home’s other records. For Inspection report children’s home: 1221437 6 example, it does not include individual responses to children and young people or facilitate efficient management monitoring. A recommendation has been made with regard to this.

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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: 1221437 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Potens, 68 Grange Road West, Birkenhead CH41 4DB

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Bettina Jeppesen

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Inspector

Heather Chaplin: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1221437 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 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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