Children's Home run by Sherlock Healthcare Services Ltd in Birmingham

Inspection report children’s home: 1231458 1 Registered provider: Sherlock Healthcare Services 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 service is a private children’s home offering care and accommodation for up to three children or young people who have had adverse early childhood experiences and who have complex needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in July 2018 and is suitably qualified.

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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 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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1231458 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/06/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 27/02/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 25/04/2017 Full Good 25/10/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1231458 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 that helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard requires the registered person to— ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13(1)(b)(2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This is in relation to specific training for staff to develop their knowledge and practice about children’s specific needs. 25/08/2019

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all incidents of control, discipline and restraint are subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure that their use is fair, and the above principles as set out in 9.35 are respected. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36)

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Recommendations

 When establishing the home, the registered person must ensure that it is suitably located so that children are effectively safeguarded. The registered person should review the appropriateness and suitability of the location. The review should include the identification of any risks and opportunities presented by the home’s location and strategies for managing these. Providers should refer to the non- statutory advice about the location assessment process: ‘Children’s homes regulation amendments 2014: Advice for children’s homes providers on new duties under regulations that came in to effect in January and April 2014’. This refers to the locality risk assessment. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)

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Recommendations

 Regulation 45 sets out requirements for the registered person to have a system in place which allows them to monitor the matters set out in the regulation. The registered person should undertake a review that focuses on the quality of the care provided by the home, the experiences of children living there and the Inspection report children’s home: 1231458 4 impact the care is having on outcomes and improvements for the children. Reviews should be underpinned by the Quality Standards as described in regulations 5 to 14. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, pages 64-65, paragraph 15.2)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff take time to get to know children and understand them well. They adapt to their emerging needs and support children to explore their identities. This enables children to feel safe and express themselves, which helps them to develop their self-esteem and self-confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of activities at home and in the community. These include trampolining, going to the farm, youth club, football, and concerts. One child recently enjoyed going to see her favourite pop star, Drake, as well as the Spice Girls! Staff ensure that when children develop new interests they seek relevant opportunities and activities for children to pursue these interests. For example, one child wants to become a dog handler and was supported to spend a day with police handlers and their dogs. Another child likes cats and was taken to a cat café. This ensures that children develop social skills and confidence and shows that staff support children’s aspirations.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children engage readily in education, and their attendance is good. Staff communicate well with children’s teachers, which ensures that information about children’s needs is appropriately shared. This supports children’s learning and well-being at school. Staff celebrate children’s achievements, which encourages children and helps to motivate them. One child attended his end-of-school prom. The manager and staff made a real effort to make this day special for him and he has some lovely memories to cherish. Another child passed her end-of-year exams and is enrolled onto the next level of her chosen subject at college. Staff rewarded children with days out for their achievements. Furthermore, staff work well with schools and colleges to support children’s transition plans. This helps children to feel less worried about changes to their education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have access to therapeutic support, through local health and community services. Staff work closely with therapeutic support providers and demonstrate a good understanding of children’s underlying needs. In addition to this, the staff have access to a psychologist who works closely with them to help them to develop strategies to deal with children’s behaviours. This enables staff to support children with their emotional and behavioural needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff enable children to develop age-appropriate independent living skills to help them with their transition into adulthood. Staff understand children’s needs and abilities well and will adjust their approach and expectations of them accordingly. For example, when a child was feeling low and didn’t feel like cooking that week, staff supported this by cooking for her until she felt able to again. This helps children to develop skills at a pace Inspection report children’s home: 1231458 5 that is right for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children are ready to move on from the home, staff work effectively with relevant professionals to ensure that the right placement is sought for children. For example, staff supported a child to voice her concerns about a post-18 placement that had been offered to her. As a result, a more suitable placement with a better support package is now being sought. The placement adviser from the child’s local authority said that she was ‘impressed with the manager’s and staff’s ability to understand the child’s needs, and they have worked very patiently and closely with her’.

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

Staff develop nurturing and trusting relationships with children by spending time with them through regular meetings and key-work sessions. Children feel able to talk to staff if they have any worries, and they know how to raise a complaint. Children feel safe and confident that they will be listened to. When children provide feedback or make a complaint, staff deal with the situation. When a complaint is made children are provided with an outcome. Children have access to an advocate. As a result, children have enough opportunity to express their views. This helps children feel listened to and therefore feel valued.

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

Committed staff explored the reasons behind one child’s behaviour and have adapted their techniques to better support him. For example, the school for the child recommended emotional coaching. The manager and staff took this on board, researched the technique and implemented this. As a result, the child has fewer incidents of challenging behaviours.

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

The number of physical restraints in the home has reduced significantly in recent months, particularly for one child. This is due to staff stability and consistency in the home and to staff developing better de-escalation strategies. However, the transfer from paper files to online recording systems means that the manager has not had regular oversight of the restraints and has not recorded his review. This also relates to the review of the effectiveness of sanctions. As a result, restraints and sanctions have not had regular scrutiny recently, to ensure that they have been fair, balanced and proportionate.

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

Children’s risk assessments and behaviour management plans are detailed and are updated to reflect changes in risks and strategies. Staff implement the behaviour management strategies, which helps to reduce and manage risk and keep children safe.

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

Staff undertake a range of mandatory online training courses and have access to some face-to-face specialist training. This develops their skills and knowledge. However, staff have not received training in self-harm, including ligature training, to fully understand how to manage these particular risks. Although this has not had a direct impact on children’s safety to date, this has the potential to limit staff’s ability to respond effectively to a self-harm incident, should it occur. Inspection report children’s home: 1231458 6 Safe recruitment practice ensures that staff employed in the home are safe to work with children. The home has a number of bank staff who care for children when permanent staff are on leave or off sick. This offers stability and consistency to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and deputy manager joined the home last year at a time of instability, and when there was a heavy reliance on agency staff. They inherited the outcome of the previous inspection when several requirements and recommendations were raised. Their passion and dedication have led to an improvement in the quality of care provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Improvements include new staff being recruited, including bank staff. A positive culture and ethos in the home has developed, policies have been updated and all the requirements and recommendations from the previous inspection have been met. The home feels welcoming, the staff team is stable, and the children are happy and feel safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a clear vision for the home. He is aware of the areas of strength and development for the home. He welcomes scrutiny and constructive feedback and acts on this to bring about continuous improvement

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff told the inspector that they feel valued and supported by the management team and each other. Staff receive regular supervision and feel that this is reflective and helps them to develop their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has carried out a review of the quality of service. However, this does not include the views of children, staff, or professionals, and therefore is not able to fully inform the development of the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s locality risk assessment does not provide a detailed overview of the current location. For example, key information such as its location on a main busy road is excluded. Also, it does not provide information with regards to proximity to known risks such as child exploitation and gambling outlets. This does not keep staff informed of potential issues in the area, and the document does not include measures staff can take to reduce any associated risk.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: 1231458 7 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: 1231458 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Sherlock Healthcare Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 20-22 Wenlock Road, London N1 7GU

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Hilton Mutariswa

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Inspectors

Shazana Jamal, social care inspector Jackie Line, regulatory inspection manager Inspection report children’s home: 1231458 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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