Children's home run by Inspire Children’s Services Limited in St. Helens

Inspection report children‟s home: SC411825 1 SC411825 Registered provider: Inspire Childrens Services

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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 home is registered to accommodate two young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties who are unable to live in their own family setting.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered since June 2018.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 23 to 24 September 2019

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC411825 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/08/2018 Full Good 11/01/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 06/06/2017 Full Good 21/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC411825 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who— understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose; ensure that staff— understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(2)(a)(b)(i)) 08/11/2019

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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 ensure— that staff— 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; understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(i)(v)) 08/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home. In particular, the registered person must ensure that— medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child; and a record is kept of the administration of medicine to each child. (Regulation 23 (1)(2)(b)(c)) 08/11/2019

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s 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 fact, opinion and third party information. Information about the child must always be Inspection report children‟s home: SC411825 4 recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. ( ‘Guide to the children’s ho s homes regulations including the quality standards’, , page 62, paragraph 14.4)  Homes are required to develop and keep under review a “Statement of Purpose” (regulation 16 and schedule 1). The home’s s Statement of Purpose should be child- focused, indicating how the home provides individualised care to meet the Quality Standards for the children in their care. (‘Gu Guide to the children’s s homes regulations including the quality standards’, , page 14, paragraph 3.5)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is currently one young person living at the home. The young person has made positive progress from his starting point. The manager and staff have a good understanding of the needs of the young person and do their best to ensure that outcomes are improved for him.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager and staff strongly support the young person to achieve in education. Good routines and structure to the young person’s day promote opportunities for him to reach his full educational potential, and this improves his future life chances. There is effective liaison from the registered manager and staff with the young person’s school to make sure that all relevant information is shared, and the young person receives appropriate support to meet his needs. The young person attends school regularly and has not had any unauthorised absences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person’s health and well-being needs are met. Staff spend time talking to the young person about his health issues to raise his understanding and awareness of his diagnosis and the medical care required to ensure that his health needs are met well. Furthermore, the young person is encouraged and supported to attend health appointments. As a result, the young person’s anxiety when attending health appointments has significantly reduced.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The relationships between the young person and the registered manager and staff are trusting and nurturing. During the inspection, positive interaction between the young person and staff was clearly visible. Staff spend time with the young person and he has many opportunities to share his views, wishes and feelings. It is evident that the young person is fully involved in the running of the home, for example in choosing new wallpaper for his bedroom, food and activities. Furthermore, the young person wanted a pet dog, so he now has regular visits from a therapy dog named Buddy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Key-work sessions with the young person are a strength of the home. The sessions are targeted to the individual needs of the young person and help him to manage his behaviour and keep himself safe from harm. Staff often use research during key-work sessions that helps to keep the young person safe and support his progress. Consequently, the young person benefits greatly from the key-work sessions, which is demonstrated in the progress he makes. Inspection report children‟s home: SC411825 5 There are some areas of the home that need some attention to ensure that the environment is maintained to a good standard and that the young person is able to access all areas of the home. For example, the young person’s bedroom has been decorated with new wallpaper, but parts of the paintwork are damaged and marked. Additionally, the only upstairs bathroom has been out of use for some time due to an unidentified leak.

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

There is a good safeguarding culture at the home that contributes to the safety and well- being of the young person. The manager and staff receive a good level of safeguarding training and use research to enhance their safeguarding knowledge. As a result, research-based practice is evident, for example in relation to online safety and managing behaviour and emotions. The manager and staff have a good understanding of the risks for the young person and the strategies required to keep him and others safe from harm. Although detailed risk assessments are in place for most of the known risks for the young person, there is no risk assessment for online safety. However, this has not had an impact on how well the young person is helped and protected to use the internet safely. The manager and staff use robust strategies to keep the young person safe online.

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

Following a recent safeguarding incident, the manager and staff liaised with safeguarding professionals to ensure that appropriate support and intervention were in place to support those involved and prevent any further similar incidents. However, the safeguarding log and other records following the incident do not demonstrate that the manager and staff reflected on the incident or amended care practice. This has the potential to result in a similar incident occurring again in the future which could place the young person and/or others at risk of harm. The manager and staff demonstrate a good level of insight into the young person’s emotional responses and behaviours and manage the young person’s behaviour effectively. De-escalation techniques are used, and staff are intuitive in the way that these are employed. There are clear strategies to assist staff in supporting the young person to develop safe and appropriate behaviours. This approach means that the home

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

is settled, with the young person being able to regulate his behaviour and emotions more effectively.

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

The number of times that physical intervention has been used has significantly reduced since the young person first moved into the home. It is almost 12 months since the use of physical intervention was required. Staff use humour and their positive relationships with the young person to manage incidents safely.

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

Some errors have occurred in the recording of the administration of medication to the young person. However, following the manager identifying the shortfalls in recording, the staff involved were required to attend additional medication training. Inspection report children‟s home: SC411825 6

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is suitably qualified and experienced to undertake his role. The manager demonstrates genuine commitment and high aspirations for the young person in his care. Feedback from external professionals on the leadership of the home is very positive. A social worker said, ‘I especially want to acknowledge the registered manager, who has demonstrated excellent leadership and management of the staff team and has been at the core of the innovative ways of working which have supported the young person and meant that he has progressed as much as he has.‟

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The young person is cared for by a small and committed staff team whose members share an ethos of providing good-quality care. Staff are highly motivated and are proud of the progress the young person has made. Staff like working in the home and feel well supported in their roles. Professionals are complimentary about the level of care provided by staff and how this has contributed to the progress that the young person has made.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision that helps them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the young person. The continuous professional development of staff is a priority and staff receive regular training and development opportunities. Team meetings allow the manager and staff the opportunity to discuss the needs and progress of the young person, staff practice, and to share information from training and research, which enhances their knowledge and skills.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The monitoring and review systems help the manager to identify the strengths and areas for development for the home and the staff team. The manager takes effective action to address shortfalls and build strengths to improve practice and outcomes for the young person.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s statement of purpose is child-focused, and it sets out the home’s ethos and how the manager and staff will meet the needs of the young people they care for. However, the statement of purpose does not include up-to-date information relating to the staffing of the home or the current solo placement arrangements. However, the manager updated the statement of purpose when this was highlighted during the inspection.

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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. Inspection report children‟s home: SC411825 7 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

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Information about this inspection

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: SC411825 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Inspire Childrens Services

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 3 Craig Court, Standish Street, St Helens, Merseyside WA10 1GJ

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Inspector

Lisa Mulcahy, social care inspector Michelle Edge, social care inspection manager Inspection report children‟s home: SC411825 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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