Children's Home run by Oracle Care Limited in Staffordshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC368982 1 SC368982 Registered provider: Oracle Care Limited

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and operated by a private company. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three children aged eight to 18. Children have social and/or emotional difficulties The home’s registered manager has been in post since May 2016.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 19 to 20 November 2019

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 10 January 2019

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC368982 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/01/2019 Full Good 23/01/2018 Full Good 15/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 21/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC368982 3

p.2

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.

p.3

Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who— Use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably; ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(b)(2)(vii)(c)(i)) 18/12/2019

p.3

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— take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(vi)(d)) 18/12/2019

p.3

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— promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. 18/12/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC368982 4 (Regulation 13(1)(b)(2)(h))

p.3

Recommendations

 Regulations 35-39 detail the records that must be kept in children’s homes. All children’s records must be kept up to date and stored securely whilst they remain in the home. Case records must be kept up to date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3) In particular, risk assessments are too generic and not all risks are documented to the right young person.  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Information about the child must 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)

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s day-to-day care experiences are positive. Staff are nurturing, supportive and focus their practice on children’s individual needs. Children have good school attendance and make good academic progress. Staff communicate well with children’s teachers and their social workers and attend all meetings to help to support each child to thrive in their education. Children have good access to therapeutic support to help them to develop emotional resilience. Staff understand the importance of children being able to stay in touch with their family. As a result, children enjoy regular time with their family in accordance with their care plans. The home environment has benefited from redecoration. However, maintenance is not always given priority. This delay has the potential to compromise children’s comfort and well-being.

p.4

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

Staff complete risk assessments for each child. However, staff do not always notice that some advice is not aligned with a child’s specific risks. Consequently, advice is not always clear to staff to help them to manage children’s individual needs. Staff ensure that records that relate to physical interventions are detailed. Staff carry out child-centred debriefs to help children to understand why a physical intervention was considered necessary. This debrief helps children to understand why staff sometimes have to physically hold them to keep them and others safe. Inspection report children’s home: SC368982 5 When children go missing from the home, staff respond quickly and work closely with the police and social workers. Staff are quick to escalate concerns with children’s placing authorities to ensure that children are offered return home interviews as soon as possible. Staff support children to have a good understanding of risk. For example, staff have

p.4

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

carried out bespoke work to help children to understand about the risks that they can be exposed to when online.

p.5

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

The registered manager is enthusiastic and passionate about providing good-quality care to children. The registered manager ensures that staff receive good-quality supervision that focuses on the needs of children and that all staff are qualified to level 3 diploma in residential childcare within the required period. The registered manager does not always ensure that there is good monitoring of fire safety. For example, required maintenance on fire doors to children’s bedrooms has not been carried out promptly. This omission in oversight weakens fire safety measures. The registered manager does not always use monitoring and review systems well enough to help with her oversight of the home. For example, the registered manager has not picked up that one child’s care plan is not up to date to reflect a change in how staff should support the child’s specific needs. The registered manager works well with families and professionals. This approach is

p.5

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

central to practice in the home and ensures that the staff deliver the aims and objectives contained in the home’s statement of purpose.

p.5

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.

p.5

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: SC368982 6

p.5

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Oracle Care Limited

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 54 Wrest Park, Silsoe, Bedford MK45 4HS

p.6

Inspector

Patrick McIntosh, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC368982 7 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.

p.6

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.7

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.7

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.7