Children's Home run by Milestones Care Homes Ltd in Wirral

Inspection report children’s home: 2483789 1 Registered provider: Milestones Care Homes 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

This is a privately owned children’s home, registered to accommodate three young people who have emotional and/or behaviour difficulties. The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 30 August 2018.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 25 to 26 February 2019

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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Date of last inspection: this is the first inspection following registration

Overall judgement at last inspection: Not applicable

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

n/a Inspection report children’s home: 2483789 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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so. (Regulation 8(1)) 08/04/2019

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on mutual respect and trust. (Regulation 11(1)(a)) 08/04/2019

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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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to- 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; ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i)(d)) In particular, ensure that risk assessments and measures are in place to reduce the risk from young people smoking in the home. Ensure that all repairs are carried out in a timely manner and, in particular, prior to the admission of any new young person. 08/04/2019

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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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. 08/04/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 2483789 3 (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b), 2)(f)) This is in respect of monitoring the service effectively. The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month. (Regulation 44(1)) 08/04/2019

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that staff have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to: respond to the health needs of children. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 34, paragraph 7.12)  The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1.The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home and used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff – including the home’s manager. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  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

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Recommendations

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 home regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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improvement to be good

The home has been through an unsettled period since its registration in August 2018. Staff have experienced difficulties in managing a young person’s unpredictable and aggressive behaviour. Consequently, despite staff acting to keep this young person safe, the risks remained too high. As a result, staff were unable to successfully devise strategies to manage the difficult behaviours and the ongoing risks. The young person was discharged from the home prior to this inspection. The young person currently living in the home is making progress in some aspects of her life, for example improved behaviour and significant reduction in missing from home episodes. The current arrangements to support the young person to take part in meaningful education are limited and this affects her educational progress. This, and the lack of Inspection report children’s home: 2483789 4 identified suitable education provision for the young person, affects her education

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improvement to be good

opportunities and has the potential to impact on her later life chances. While the home has taken some action through speaking with the head of the virtual school and arranging meetings to address the concerns, the daily routine of the home is disorganised and does not actively encourage educational attendance. The young person who is currently living at the home says that she is happy there. She said that she likes the staff and feels listened to. The young person said, ‘I like it here, it’s calm and quiet.’ The staff arrange, support and supervise appropriate contact with the young people’s families. The manager and staff have built good relationships with families and keep them updated regarding young people’s progress.

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improvement to be good

The arrangements to safeguard the young people are not good enough. Unchecked, these have the potential to leave young people at risk of harm. For example, the young person currently living in the home smokes in her bedroom. Staff are aware of this; however, they have failed to implement a robust risk assessment in relation to the danger to young people and staff. Furthermore, the manager has failed to address the identified risks to ensure the safety of everyone in the home. The manager and staff team should ensure that the day-to-day care in the home is delivered in such a way that it fosters mutual respect and trust between the staff and the young person. It is not appropriate to elaborate on this in this report; however, the manager is aware of the issues identified and has made a commitment to remedy them. Sanctions are poorly recorded and do not always reflect the duration of the sanction imposed. The young people do not always comment on the sanction, and the manager

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improvement to be good

has not consistently commented on or evaluated its effectiveness. Young people’s health and well-being are promoted in the home and their individual health needs are being addressed. However, the young person is on prescribed medication and this is not documented in the young person’s health plan. The home environment requires improvement. Repairs have not been carried out in a timely manner. For example, a front window in the home was broken by a previous young person had not been replaced prior to another young person coming to live at the home. Furthermore, the laminate flooring in the living room area requires attention to prevent trip hazards. Despite the shortfalls identified in this inspection, the current young person, her parent and social worker all agree that the young person is safe living in the home.

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

The manager is experienced in residential care and appropriately qualified for the role. She understands the strengths and areas for improvement identified at this inspection. Inspection report children’s home: 2483789 5 However, managerial oversight has failed to highlight the inconsistences in record- keeping. Situations have occurred where sanctions imposed on young people and missing from home reports have had no management evaluation. Opportunities for identifying trends and patterns in young people’s behaviour have been missed. Furthermore, several of the records held in the home relate to another of the provider’s provisions. The provider has not ensured that an independent person has carried out a visit to the home at least once each month. This means that both the provider and HMCI have not received reports to demonstrate that the home is remaining compliant to regulations and the conditions of registration.

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

The manager does not have a workforce plan that shows the timescales for individual staff to achieve their qualifications. This shows a lack of planning which may undermine some aspects of team development. Team meetings and individual supervision take place regularly. This allows the staff team to discuss the running of the home and to look at ways to improve the service that it offers. There is evidence of collaborative working with other professionals and family members who are involved in each young person’s care to support positive outcomes for them. Feedback from professionals and family members is positive, praising the management and staff’s commitment to the young people and the progress that they make. The registered manager fully acknowledges all shortfalls raised at this inspection. She recognises how they impact on the day-to-day running of the home and the outcomes for young people. She shows capacity and enthusiasm to make all the required

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

improvements, including more robust systems to ensure that young people’s care planning, safety and well-being are prioritised.

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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: 2483789 6 Inspection report children’s home: 2483789 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Milestones Care Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 32 Fieldway, Maghull, Liverpool, Lancashire L31 5NB

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Inspectors

Elaine Allison, social care inspector Jenny Brady, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2483789 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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