Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Warrington

Inspection report children's home: SC456942 1 SC456942 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

This home is registered to provide care and accommodation for one child who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is part of a large private organisation.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered in January 2018. She is the registered manager for two homes within the organisation; however, she was not operational as manager in this home during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

There was one young person in the home at the time of the inspection, who was seen and spoken to by the inspector.

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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 inadequate

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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

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: SC456942 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/06/2018 Full Good 12/07/2017 Full Good 18/01/2017 Full Good 19/08/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC456942 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (c)) 12/06/2019

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)) 12/06/2019

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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—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

that staff help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(iv)) 12/06/2019

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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.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

that staff— 12/06/2019 Inspection report children's home: SC456942 4 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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(v)) 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

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;

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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

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child; and

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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)(a)(c)(d)(h)) 12/06/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and notify HMCI of any revision and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b)) 12/06/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4. (Regulation 37 (2)(a)) 12/06/2019

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Recommendations

 Each home must have clear arrangements in place to maintain effective management when the manager is absent, off duty or on leave. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.20) Inspection report children's home: SC456942 5

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improvement to be good

The young person has made some progress in her development because of the care and support she receives from staff.

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improvement to be good

The young person attends school full time and is supported in this by care staff. Staff transport her to and from school. Staff stay at school with the young person throughout the day. As a result of this approach, her attendance at school is excellent.

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improvement to be good

The young person does not, however, always engage with staff in the home. She refuses to attend health appointments and is currently not taking her medication as prescribed. As a result, her health needs are not always met.

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improvement to be good

There has been a delay in staff accessing specialist help for anger management for the young person. Consequently, the young person is not receiving all the required advice, services and support in relation to her health and well-being.

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improvement to be good

Staff offer the young person activities in the community. The young person sometimes engages with staff and the activities that they have offered. However, despite staff’s best efforts to engage the young person in activities, she often refuses to engage with these. The young person spends a significant period of time in her room accessing online games.

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improvement to be good

Staff try to develop positive relationships with the young person. The young person gave positive feedback about staff during the inspection. The young person has plenty of opportunities to share her views about the care that she receives. Consequently, she feels listened to by staff.

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improvement to be good

Staff ensure that the young person lives in a warm and homely environment. There have been new bathrooms fitted since the last inspection and the home has been redecorated.

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improvement to be good

Staff promote contact between the young person and her family in line with her care plan. This ensures that the young person can maintain relationships with family members in a safe way.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand the young person’s known risks. However, risk assessments lack sufficient written guidance for staff to follow to manage all known risks associated with the young person displaying self-injurious behaviour or when accessing the internet. This limits the action staff take to reduce these known risks as they have been given no clear guidance to follow. Inspection report children's home: SC456942 6 There has been a reduction in missing from home incidents for the young person living in the home. However, when the young person does go missing, staff do not follow the actions set out in the young person’s missing from home risk assessment. This does not always ensure that prompt action is taken to keep the young person safe.

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improvement to be good

The young person living in the home displays challenging behaviour. Strategies in place to manage this behaviour are ineffective. This was observed during the inspection. There is no system in place to review how this young person’s behaviour is being managed. Furthermore, there is no meaningful input from the clinical team to support staff in how to engage the young person or manage her behaviour. As a result, the young person has physically assaulted staff and staff have little positive influence over the young person and her actions.

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improvement to be good

Staff spend time with the young person trying to educate her about keeping safe. The young person does not always engage with this work and, as a result, it has been ineffective in supporting her to change some of her behaviours.

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improvement to be good

There have been a number of allegations since the last inspection. These have been shared with the appropriate agencies and managed in accordance with the statutory guidance.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager was not operational in this home during the inspection. There is an acting manager in place, who also works full time on shift in another home. This is not a suitable arrangement to maintain effective management when the manager is absent.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is also a lack of oversight by the responsible individual, who had not visited the home since January 2019. This lack of oversight by senior management does not show how the staff and acting manager are being supported by the organisation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home does not provide care in line with its statement of purpose. The clinical team has had little input into supporting staff managing the young person’s challenging behaviour or reviewing whether the strategies that are being used are effective. This is despite the registered manager requesting this support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The statement of purpose also identifies that the home ‘recognises the need to do internal training based on the needs of the current young people and will ensure that this is completed’. There is a delay in this training being provided. Training that was identified as required when the young person moved into the home, such as training in attachment, has still not been provided. Staff have also not had internet safety training or training in sexualised behaviour. This does not ensure that staff have the required knowledge and skills to meet the young person’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There has been some instability in the staffing of the home over the last three months. As a result, the young person is not always provided with consistency of staffing, which Inspection report children's home: SC456942 7 has an impact on her ability to develop positive relationships with a consistent staff team. Furthermore, systems in place to ensure that staff who do not normally work in the home understand the young person’s needs are ineffective. It is also not clear from rosters which staff have worked on shift.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Management oversight is poor. There is a lack of management oversight on documents, such as weekly medication checks. This lack of oversight prevents shortfalls in staff practice being identified and addressed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager does not sufficiently challenge placing authorities when their response to a situation is not adequate to their role. As a result, it is not clear whether serious incidents have been responded to in line with statutory guidance.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has not kept the statement of purpose up to date, particularly in respect of staffing, and the provider has not notified the HMCI of any revisions.

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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: SC456942 8

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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, Middlesex W6 9RU

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Inspector

Sarah Billett, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: SC456942 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 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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