Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Bolton

Inspection report children’s home: 1156098 1 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare 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 children’s home is one of a number of homes operated by a large private company. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since 13 December 2015.

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Information about this children’s home

Young people spoke to the inspector throughout the inspection.

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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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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 26 September 2018

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1156098 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/09/2018 Full Good 24/07/2017 Full Good 06/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 28/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1156098 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(h)) 22/05/2019

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision.

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Requirement Due date

Subject to paragraph (6), the registered person must ensure that the home is at all times conducted in a manner which is consistent with its statement of purpose. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b)(5)) 22/05/2019

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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)) 22/05/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes— 22/05/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1156098 4 the name of the child;

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure (‘the user’), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (‘the authorised person’)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c)(iv)) The registered person must maintain records (‘case records’) for each child which are kept up to date; and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(b)(c)) 22/05/2019

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4. (Regulation 37 (2)(a)). With specific reference to the rota, this needs to include the hours of all staff including the registered manager. 22/05/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of 22/05/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1156098 5 care provided for children (‘a quality of care review’) at least once every 6 months. The registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed. (Regulation 45 (1)(4)(a))

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Recommendations

 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 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)

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection the home has been unsettled. One young person who had lived at the home for several months had to move out of the home. This was due to a significant increase in his risk-taking behaviours, both in the home and local community. Staff were unable to keep him safe despite their best attempts.

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improvement to be good

The two young people who have moved into the home both engage in risk-taking behaviour, in the home and local community. This has resulted in police involvement and criminal proceedings. While these admissions were planned, there was incomplete referral information received for one young person. This hindered the matching process and the staff’s abilities to keep young people safe.

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improvement to be good

One young person is making progress living at the home and has established positive relationships with staff. He is supported to take part in a wide range of activities and told inspectors that he gave the home ‘nine out of 10 and was happy living in the home’.

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improvement to be good

Educational outcomes for young people are varied. One young person is making progress in his education. His attendance is excellent, and he was keen to tell the inspector all about learning to care for animals as part of his studies. The other young people living in the home have access to reduced timetables. Staff encourage and support these young people to attend their education settings, but their attendance can be sporadic. This has had an impact on their educational progress.

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improvement to be good

Young people are supported to address their health needs and are registered with all Inspection report children’s home: 1156098 6 local health services. However, one young person had suffered a significant injury that required hospital treatment. Despite the need to attend the hospital for follow-up appointments, the young person refused. The staff tried to encourage the young person to attend his appointments, but these efforts have been unsuccessful.

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improvement to be good

Young people are encouraged and supported to take part in a variety of activities. The young people have memory books containing photographs of the activities they have enjoyed.

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improvement to be good

Staff support the young people to spend quality time with their family members. The staff understand the importance of helping the young people to maintain these significant relationships.

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improvement to be good

Not all risk assessments identify the young people’s known risks or include written guidance for staff to follow to reduce any known risks. There was a missed opportunity for staff to learn from an incident where two young people climbed out of one of their bedroom windows and left the home. This incident was then repeated with another young person. Furthermore, information in assessments does not consistently match the information recorded in individual behaviour management plans. This does not demonstrate that all staff have up-to-date, factually correct information.

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improvement to be good

Staff take action to safeguard young people when they go missing. Staff respond quickly and work collaboratively with local authorities and police. Despite the efforts of staff, missing episodes have increased for one young person since moving into the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff respond appropriately, to incidents of substance misuse and knife crime within the home and local community. However, risks for young people have increased. Staff undertake follow-up sessions with the young people on these issues. However, the records of these sessions are undated and unsigned. This means that it is unclear whether all incidents are followed up and/or discussed individually to consistently attempt to minimise the known risk factors.

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improvement to be good

During the inspection, gaps were noted in record-keeping. In the recording of incidents, on one occasion the manager has used judgemental and opinionated language. Staff talked to the inspector about the direct work that they had undertaken with the young people to minimise risk. However, records were not available to demonstrate this work. This is a missed opportunity for staff to demonstrate the support that they consistently provide to young people to keep them safe.

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improvement to be good

Sanctions are poorly recorded and, in most cases, relate to restrictions upon money or food. The sanctions have been implemented by the registered manager, with no oversight from a senior manager. This lack of evaluation hinders the monitoring of the effectiveness of the sanction. Inspection report children’s home: 1156098 7 The registered manager had failed to ensure that all physical interventions are recorded and reported appropriately. Furthermore, the registered manager has reviewed incidents she had been involved in, with no independent scrutiny of the events. This does not ensure that young people have been appropriately managed.

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improvement to be good

Staff purchased an e-cigarette and the vapour liquid for a young person, despite them being underage. Staff were also observed during the inspection providing a cigarette lighter to a young person. This was reported by the provider to be against the company’s own policies and procedures.

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improvement to be good

All staff are suitably checked and vetted prior to appointment. This helps to prevent the appointment of adults that may pose a risk to young people’s safety.

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

The manager is experienced and is working towards her NVQ level 5 qualification. She is supported by an experienced and conscientious deputy. There is a permanent staff team in place, with one vacancy for a team leader. The staff team members are suitably qualified or are working towards the NVQ level 3 qualification.

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

The manager has ensured that multi-agency meetings have taken place when risks have escalated for the young people living in the home. One social worker noted that communication with the manager and the home is generally good. However, she also advised that the young person’s missing episodes have significantly increased since they moved into the home.

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

Staff report satisfaction in the level of support that they receive in the home from the management team. Despite this, there are gaps noted in the supervision frequency for staff. This limits staff learning and progress. This was a requirement at the last inspection and is repeated.

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

Staff have completed the provider’s mandatory training programme, but not all have been trained in specific issues relating to the young people living in the home. There are identified gaps in training in epilepsy, substance misuse and sexually harmful behaviour. The deputy manager has taken action to request this training for all staff. A requirement has been made to address this shortfall and this is a repeat requirement from the last inspection.

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

Managers have ensured that rosters state the members of staff who are working in the home. However, the registered manager herself is not included on the roster. This is not safe practice for young people or staff as there is no clear record of who was working with the young people at certain times. A repeat requirement has been made to address this.

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

The home is not operating within the statement of purpose, as it states that there will be a senior member of staff on each shift. This was not the case during the inspection and staff confirmed this had occurred on other occasions. Furthermore, the statement of Inspection report children’s home: 1156098 8 purpose does not accurately state the various bank staff who are working in the home.

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

At the time of the inspection, the manager had not provided a review of the quality of care to Ofsted as required by regulation. There have been several requirements repeated at this inspection, despite the registered manager providing an action plan that indicated that all previous requirements had been addressed. This fails to demonstrate that the registered manager has a clear overview of the home and an understanding of her roles and responsibilities.

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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: 1156098 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 4th Floor, Waterfront Manbre Wharf, Manbre Road, Hammersmith, London, Middlesex W6 9RH

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Inspector

Jenny Brady, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1156098 10 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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