Children's home run by Potensial Limited in Wirral

Inspection report children’s home: 1221437 1 Registered provider: Potensial Ltd

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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 short-break centre is operated by a large independent national provider.  The home is registered to provide short-break care and accommodation for up to five children and young people at any one time.  Children and young people must not live permanently at the home.  Children and young people who stay at this home may have learning disabilities and/or physical disabilities.  The manager of the home was registered by Ofsted on 14 March 2016.

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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 widespread failures that mean children are not protected.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 19 December 2018

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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: 1221437 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/12/2018 Full Good 11/05/2017 Full Good 23/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 08/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1221437 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

(1) The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (a) that staff— (i) 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; (iii) have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; (v) understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; (vi) take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and (vii) are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies; (b) that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child

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Requirement Due date

effectively from harm; (e) that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation (1)(2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, make sure that effective action is taken when children present with worrying injuries and ensure that child protection policy and processes are adhered to. In addition, ensure that risk assessments, care plans and behaviour management plans provide staff with up-to-date and clear instructions about how to meet and respond to the children’s daily needs. 26/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard 26/08/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1221437 4 (1) The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that— (a) helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and (b) promotes their welfare. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— (a) 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; (f) 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; (g) demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on— (i) research and developments in relation to the ways in which

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Requirement Due date

the needs of children are best met; and (ii) feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and (h) 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)(f)(g)(i)(ii)(h)(h))

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure ─ that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that documents such as education, health and care plans (EHCP), behavioural risk assessments, behaviour support plans and local authority short-break agreements are in place for each child. 26/08/2019

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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. (Regulation 16(3)(b)) 26/08/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1221437 5 20: Restraint and deprivation of liberty

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Requirement Due date

Restraint in relation to a child is only permitted for the purpose of preventing injury to any person (including the child); serious damage to the property of any person (including the child); or a child who is accommodated in a secure children’s home from absconding from the home. Restraint in relation to a child must be necessary and proportionate. (Regulation 20(1)(2))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that children are not prevented from having freedom of movement, for example by using zips to secure ‘safe-space’ beds. 26/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (‘case records’) for each child which include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all case records are kept up to date.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person must ensure that all records identify the author of reports and are dated. (Regulation 36(1)(a)(b)) 26/08/2019

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff are 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 61, paragraph 14.4) In particular, ensure that the recording of incidents is kept under review and that the document used for this purpose is child-focused and facilitates management monitoring.  Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5). In particular, ensure that

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Recommendations

behavioural risks are risk-assessed and staff are provided with guidance on how to manage and mitigate risk. Inspection report children’s home: 1221437 6

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

This short-break service is inadequate, because safeguarding arrangements are weak and fail to protect children, and the registered manager’s oversight and monitoring are poor.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The registered manager’s management of significant incidents is inadequate. In recent months, the manager has failed to share with safeguarding agencies or seek the advice of healthcare professionals when unexplained bruises and abrasions have been identified on a child’s body. Body maps are routinely completed for all children by staff, but do not confirm what actions staff have taken in response to marks found and if parents and/or social workers have been notified.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The registered manager has failed to provide staff with the information and guidance they need to support the children who stay for a short break effectively. Important documents, such as education, health and care plans (EHCP), behavioural risk assessments, behaviour support plans, a child protection plan and local authority short- break agreements are either not up to date or not in place. This means that staff are not informed or provided with current information on how to meet and support the children’s needs or adhere to the local authority’s placement aims and objectives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The registered manager does not have a formal process in place to assess the individual needs of children and their compatibility with other children prior to considering or offering short-break care. Plans to introduce the children to the home are not clearly set out or documented. As a result, the behaviour of a child who has recently started short- break stays has escalated, causing damage and injury to others. This is because insufficient assessment and information had been gained about his needs prior to his stay.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Despite these weaknesses, parents who contributed to this inspection are unanimously positive about the care and support their child is provided with. Parents are particularly pleased with the activities that are provided for children and the quality of the support from staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Memory books and pictures displayed throughout the home show children enjoying spending time together. Children’s social skills, health and well-being are promoted because they are provided with a wide range of positive activities during their short- break stay.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children are helped to make choices during their stay. They are supported by the staff to use alternative communication aids when needed. However, the registered manager has recognised that the current formal consultation system is not effective. Plans are in place to develop this further. During the inspection, staff’s interaction with children was observed to be warm, caring and sensitive. Inspection report children’s home: 1221437 7

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

Children are not adequately helped and protected because of failings in the home’s safeguarding arrangements. Management oversight of serious incidents is inadequate. Records do not always provide enough detail, and they are not always signed and dated. There is insufficient evidence of learning by staff following serious incidents to prevent reoccurrence and to help children to develop new strategies. Body maps completed by staff when children arrive for their short break identify bruising and abrasions. Too often, there is insufficient assessment of these marks and lack of actions taken by the staff and the registered manager to share and report this information. As a result, children are not protected from harm.

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

Risk assessments or behaviour support plans are not in place for children who exhibit high-risk behaviours, such as assaulting staff and an attempted assault on a peer. This means that staff are not provided with clear direction about how to identify, manage and mitigate these behaviours. Behaviour management plans are either not in place or not up to date, nor do they include information about recent incidents.

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

Restrictive and intrusive practices used for one child and seen at the previous inspection, have been reviewed. Despite this, the registered manager has not detailed how she has assessed the continued use and need of a child using a restricted bed. Nor has she identified a reduction plan.

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

Children and staff regularly engage in fire evacuations. Safety checks are completed weekly. All children have a personal evacuation plan in place. However, these plans do not inform staff how the child will respond during a fire evacuation and what actions they should take in response.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The management of the home is not effective. As a result, widespread failings feature across practice and record-keeping. The registered manager does not scrutinise incidents effectively and has failed to identify possible safeguarding concerns and report them to external professionals as required.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Monitoring by the registered manager and the independent visitor is ineffective. They have not identified omissions seen at this inspection. There is insufficient evidence that the registered manager has monitored children’s daily records, body maps and one-to- one meetings effectively. Supervision for staff has not been a priority and is not sufficiently regular or meaningful. The company policy is not adhered to. Team meetings are well attended. However, the minutes of these formal meetings do not show that staff are provided with an opportunity to reflect on their practice or share examples of good practice between themselves. Inspection report children’s home: 1221437 8 Although the registered manager has recently updated the statement of purpose, she has not forwarded a copy to Ofsted as required by regulations.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager acknowledges that the weaknesses identified at this inspection are a result of ineffective management monitoring. She acknowledges that her time and attention in recent months have been focused on attending meetings and supporting the wider organisation and not specifically on her role and responsibilities as the registered manager. She is determined to rectify the weaknesses identified at this inspection and took immediate action to compile a plan that details the improvements she proposes to take.

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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: 1221437 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Potens, 68 Grange Road West, Birkenhead CH41 4DB

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Bettina Jeppesen

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Inspector

Sharron Escott, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1221437 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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