Children's home run by We Are Beams in Sevenoaks

Inspection report children‘s home: SC435152 1 SC435152 Registered provider: We Are Beams

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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 provide short breaks for up to six children who have severe and complex needs and may have learning difficulties and/or physical disabilities. The home is operated by a charitable organisation.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 1 May 2015.

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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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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and/or the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 30 & 31 August 2017

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‘s home: SC435152 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/08/2017 Full Good 21/03/2017 Full Good 15/12/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 07/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children‘s home: SC435152 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 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— 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;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)) 03/02/2019

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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— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home‘s statement of purpose; ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home; ensure that the home‘s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)[* ] (a)(c)(h)) 03/02/2019

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must— ensure, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that persons working at the home and, so far as reasonably practicable, children are aware of the procedure to be followed 03/02/2019 Inspection report children‘s home: SC435152 4 in case of fire. (Regulation 25 (1)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, complete personal emergency evacuation plans and night-time fire drills.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 03/02/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— within 48 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (―the authorised person‖) has spoken to the user about the measure; and has signed the record to confirm it is accurate. (Regulation 35 (3)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) 03/02/2019

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice

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Recommendations

 The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child‘s assessed needs as recorded in the child‘s relevant plans and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. (‗Guide to the children‘s homes regulations including the quality standards‘, page 56, paragraph 11.4)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

During this inspection, several serious breaches of the children‘s homes regulations were identified. These weaknesses and shortfalls had not been detected or addressed by the registered manager or the wider organisation. Two repeated shortfalls included a requirement in relation to fire safety and a recommendation in respect of internet safety that were made at the previous inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Unclear processes and recording mechanisms make it difficult for the service to demonstrate its impact upon the children‘s progress and experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Independence progress records completed for some children identify achievable targets; however, these are only reviewed against general targets which do not relate to those identified in the records. In addition, they are only reviewed annually. The impact the service is having on children‘s independence and their personal and social development Inspection report children‘s home: SC435152 5 is difficult to assess.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Not all children who stay at the home are consulted during residents‘ meetings. The registered manager confirmed that they prioritise children who can contribute verbally. Staff do not obtain views from children with complex needs who communicate non- verbally. The manager explained that the staff struggle to gain their views. This means that not all children contribute to feedback about the home, and that staff have limited ability to understand these children‘s basic needs and feelings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children are not given feedback about the decisions made during the residents‘ meetings. Staff are unable to demonstrate to children that they have been listened to and their requests acted on.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Leaders and managers consider the impact of children moving into the home, or staying at the home, on those already present, but this is not done consistently. Matching children with their appropriate peer group is not a priority in all cases. The rationale for these decisions is not recorded. Staff are not given the necessary guidance about the matching process and how to manage the children‘s differing needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Some positive interactions between staff and children were observed during the inspection. However, overall, the inspector observed that the direct supervision of children was not well managed. The children were not all engaged in activities or supervised closely. As a result, the children did not have a consistently good-quality experience. The inspector observed poor practice in relation to administering a child‘s gastrostomy feed.

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

The registered manager has failed to review care plans and individual risk assessments to ensure that staff have the necessary information to care for the children safely. There are serious failings in information available to staff to meet the children‘s complex health needs. Risk assessments do not include all the information necessary so that staff can recognise and treat children‘s specific health needs. One child‘s plan lacks sufficient guidance for staff to advise them on how to manage the potential risks associated with his health condition.

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

The inspector found that some individual risk assessments were incomplete. Other children did not have any risk assessment records, despite already having started staying at the service and having complex needs such as gastrostomy feeds and epilepsy. One child had stayed for a short break without guidance available to staff on what to do if she were to have a seizure. The registered manager told the inspector that the staff do not undertake individual risk assessments until they get to know the children. This could potentially result in staff caring for children without knowing what children‘s individual risks are, and what actions to take to reduce them.

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

The inspector found shortfalls in relation to the monitoring of physical interventions and Inspection report children‘s home: SC435152 6 restraint incidents. Records sampled by the inspector showed that staff were blocking a door on several occasions involving different children. The registered manager said that this was a recording issue, as opposed to poor direct practice. The poor recording had not been identified and challenged by the registered manager. Records do not demonstrate that staff and children are consulted following physical interventions and restraint incidents.

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

One physical intervention record sampled indicated that a restraint had been used which was not an agreed restraint method, namely holding the bathroom door shut. This restrictive practice was not recognised as a physical restraint. This is a serious failure of leaders and managers to identify and respond to the practice used and recorded by staff members.

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

In relation to sanction records, the registered manager has not recorded her review of the measures of control. As a result, it is difficult to evaluate how she analyses and ensures that all such measures are proportionate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager fails to demonstrate effective leadership. The systems for monitoring the quality of care being provided failed to identify weaknesses in practice. The manager failed to recognise uncompleted risk assessments, lack of essential health protocols and failures in care planning. Managerial oversight of the home does not drive forward positive outcomes for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager has failed to effectively ensure that staff offer a consistently high standard of care. The home does not have a workforce plan which considers the experience, performance, direct observations of staff practice and any additional training needs of individual staff members. The development plan is not specific to the children‘s home. It is not sufficiently detailed to identify strengths and areas that need improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Not all staff are trained to give children their emergency medication. As a result, one member of staff was informed that they should ring an ambulance in case of an emergency. The child‘s emergency protocol was not updated to reflect this advice and, in addition, this protocol was found to be overdue a formal review.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have failed to respond to a known health risk for a member of staff. The registered manager confirmed that no assessment had been undertaken in respect of the staff member‘s ability to undertake duties in the home. This does not demonstrate a regard for the safety and welfare of their staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Supervisions, on the whole, take place regularly. However, one member of staff, who has considerable responsibilities, has received only four supervisions since the previous inspection. Two of these supervisions were via email. This is not adequate supervision. The registered manager stated that neither she or the deputy manager have had Inspection report children‘s home: SC435152 7 supervision training to inform their supervision and monitoring of staff. The registered manager does not review or sample the deputy manager‘s supervisee notes to ensure a consistently high standard of supervision.

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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: SC435152 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Allsworth Court, 38–40 St David‘s Road, Swanley, Kent BR8 7RJ

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Inspector

Suzy Lemmy, social care inspector Inspection report children‘s home: SC435152 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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