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

Inspection report children’s home: 1276111 1 Registered provider: NH Care 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

The home is registered to provide care for five children and young people who have learning disabilities. It is privately owned. The manager has been registered with Ofsted since August 2018. He is just waiting for confirmation that he has completed all his units to achieve his level 5 diploma in leadership and management for residential childcare.

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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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1276111 2

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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 positive relationships standard requires the registered person to ensure that staff help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful. (Regulation 11(2)(a)(vi)) 31/03/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that at all times, at least one person on duty at the home has a suitable first aid qualification. (Regulation 31(2)(a)) 31/03/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees undertake appropriate continuing professional development. (Regulation 33(4)(a)) This is with reference to developing staff skills in Makaton, direct work with young people who have a learning disability and developing staff awareness of eating disorders. 30/04/2019

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendations:

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Recommendations

 Children should be supported to express themselves as individuals and should be given an appropriate degree of freedom and choice in relation to day to day arrangements for their care, depending on their individual needs and the setting in which they are cared for. This is in relation to both activities and personal items such as clothing, technology and leisure items. Children’s reasonable preferences in relation to day to day arrangements should be met with consideration given to safeguarding, particularly in relation to the use of technology. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.21)  Staff should ensure that children understand what local leisure and other cultural or religious services are on offer for them, support them to access any relevant leisure passes and encourage them to participate in activities in the community and wider if appropriate. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the

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Recommendations

quality standards’, page 31, paragraph 6.6)  The term ‘equivalent’ as used in the Regulations in relation to qualifications will be a judgement for the registered person based on whether the content of any Inspection report children’s home: 1276111 3 qualifications held by the individual closely corresponds with the qualifications set out in regulation 28(2)(c) (for managers) or regulation 32(4) (for those in a care role). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.13)  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 including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.19)  Ensure that the registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment safeguards children and

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Recommendations

minimises potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This home was registered in August 2018. The home was unoccupied until October 2018. Since this time, two young people have moved in. This was a planned moved which involved two young people and their staff moving from one house to this new house. Careful preparation has ensured that both young people have had a positive experience of moving to a new house.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people benefit from warm and secure relationships with staff. Professionals are confident about the care and support that young people receive and say that it is helping young people to make good progress. One social worker told the inspector:

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

‘There has been a marked change in him since coming to the home. He’s not scratching, biting, not detached, he’s calm, smiling, happy, relaxed. He’s getting one- to-one nurture. We know he will do something we don’t expect. That’s him. From the relationships that staff are building with him, I have trust that they will be able to manage it when it comes.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have positive relationships with teachers. Staff understand young people’s educational goals and offer the support needed to help young people to make steady progress with their learning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Mealtimes are sociable occasions. Young people have a balanced diet that includes their favourite foods. Young people like spending time in the home making use of the sensory room and karaoke. Young people take part in community activities and particularly enjoy walking, arcading and going shopping. However, the registered manager has recognised that the team does not know enough about local resources for disabled children. This Inspection report children’s home: 1276111 4 means that young people may be missing opportunities to access community resources specifically geared to meet their needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people receive help from staff to develop their life skills. As a result, they get involved in daily tasks such as helping with the laundry, tidying their bedrooms and food preparation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are sensitive to young people’s privacy and dignity. However, they do not always work imaginatively to help young people to gain a better understanding of personal, social and sexual relationships. This creates a missed opportunity for staff to help young people to understand what makes a safe relationship and why.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Positive relationships between staff and family help young people to stay in contact with people who are important to them. Parents are pleased with the support their children receive. For example, one parent told the inspector, ‘The staff are amazing. They will always talk on the phone. They tell me how he’s getting on. He settled into a nice routine. I do feel that he’s thriving there.’

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

Young people are comfortable in each other’s company and the atmosphere in the home is calm and relaxed. Young people appear happy. Individualised plans set out the risks young people may face and provide staff with guidance on how to support young people’s safety.

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

Staff have access to a range of training to raise their awareness of their safeguarding responsibilities. Staff are familiar with the action to take if they have a safeguarding concern or if a young person was to go missing from care.

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

Staff celebrate young people’s achievements with praise. Staff are skilful in redirecting young people when they see the signs that behaviour may become challenging. On occasions when physical intervention has been used for the safety of a young person or others, records are detailed. Good oversight from the registered manager ensures that specialist advice is gained as needed to help staff understand how to better manage behaviour that can be challenging.

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

One young person regularly uses his electronic tablet to access the internet. Staff have received training on online safety and supervise the young person’s use of his tablet in communal areas. Managers have not provided sufficient thought that parental security programs on electronic devices cannot be guaranteed. The young person occasionally uses his tablet in the privacy of his bedroom. However, it is unclear how staff assure themselves that this does not present any risks to his welfare or safety.

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

A permanent, stable and committed staff team shows a genuine and nurturing approach to the care of the young people. Inspection report children’s home: 1276111 5 Staff are confident about the support they receive from the registered manager and the positive effect it has on their practice.

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

The registered manager monitors the quality of care monthly and has a clear vision and plan for how he wants to develop the service.

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

The registered manager has encouraged the staff to develop their communication with young people and staff now make good use of Widget symbols to help young people understand and influence their care. However, training to equip staff to undertake their roles is weak. Despite young people using Makaton to communicate, the organisation has been slow to ensure that staff have access to this training. Staff also do not have sufficient understanding of the potential causes and symptoms of a young person’s eating disorder. Additionally, managers have failed to assure themselves that staff are skilled to undertake direct work with young people who have a learning disability and that online first aid training does suitably equip staff to manage a medical emergency. These shortfalls leave staff without key knowledge to undertake their roles safely and in a child-centred way.

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

Potential employees are subject to an assessment of their suitability to work with young people. However, managers have failed to notice that for one member of staff, the reference from the last employer was not sent by an authorised person. In addition, managers have not assured themselves that the employee’s qualifications match those required by regulation. This compromises the organisation’s recruitment procedures that require a proposed employee’s suitability to work with young people to be rigorously tested.

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

Staff are generally diligent in keeping records up to date. However, on one occasion a signature was missing from the medical administration record and a record of physical intervention. In addition, staff do not always record a young person’s comments when the young person has seen their plans but has chosen not to put their views in writing. This limits young people’s contribution to their care.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: 1276111 6 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: 1276111 7

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspector

Alison Cooper, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1276111 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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