Children's home run by Keys Care Limited in Belfast

Inspection report children’s home: SC063883 1 SC063883 Registered provider: Keys Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run children’s home provides therapeutic residential care for up to three children or young people who may have behavioural and/or emotional difficulties. The home uses a model of psychologically-led care and education. The home aims to support the children and young people to reach their full potential and uses additional services to enable them to do this. The manager registered with Ofsted in December 2018 and is currently working on her level 5 diploma in leadership and management.

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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

Date of last inspection: 13 February 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC063883 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/02/2019 Full Outstanding 26/07/2017 Full Outstanding 19/12/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 26/07/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC063883 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, the Children’s home (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s home regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected;

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that room searches only occur when concerns arise rather than as routine. 15/12/2019

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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

ascertain and consider each child’s views, wishes and feelings, and balance these against what they judge to be in the child’s best interests when making decisions about the child’s care and welfare;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child; and help each child to understand how the child’s privacy will be 08/12/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC063883 4 respected and the circumstances when it may have to be limited. (Regulation 7 (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that discussions take place with young people when sanctions are put in place and room searches are carried out and the reasons for this, making sure that their opinions are recorded and taken into account. 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

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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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’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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Requirement Due date

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; 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)(2)(b)(c)(e)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that all staff are involved in regular team meetings to promote collaboration and consistency for the children and young people. Ensure that all staff are qualified within timescales and where issues arise for these to be challenged as quickly as possible. Monitor and review records to ensure that these are up to date and completed fully. 15/12/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC063883 5

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Recommendations

 The registered person should seek to establish a diverse staff team with a range of interests, skills and experiences. They should lead staff to share those interests, skills and experiences with children to enrich the children’s lives. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.6) In particular, all staff to have the training to develop skills to apply the home’s therapeutic models and embed this into practice.  Care must be taken to ensure prescribed medicines are only administered to the individual for whom they are prescribed. Medicines must be administered in line with a medically approved protocol. Records must be kept of the administration of all medication, which includes occasions when prescribed medication is refused. Regulation 23 requires the registered person to ensure that they make suitable arrangements to manage, administer and dispose of any medication. These are

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Recommendations

fundamentally the same sorts of arrangements as a good parent would make but are subject to additional safeguards. Where the home has questions or concerns about a child’s medication, they should approach an expert such as a General Medical Practitioner, community pharmacist or designated nurse for looked-after children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.15) In particular, for all medication to be administered in line with company policy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have positive relationships with staff and have continued to maintain these relationships despite not always staying in the home overnight. The young people are able to ask for support and advice and will openly voice their concerns.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are involved in the running of the home and regular meetings take place to gather their views as well as to educate them in different topics. Young people feel they are listened to and also have the knowledge to keep themselves safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The quality of the home is of a very high standard and provides a warm and homely environment for the young people to live in. This involved creating a games room to make sure that the young people do not isolate themselves in their bedrooms, which has helped one young person to engage more with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Education is actively promoted for both young people and they have progressed significantly from their starting points. Although staff have made significant attempts to support one young person, it has been difficult to engage them in education, training or employment. The team continues to put plans in place for both young people to engage Inspection report children’s home: SC063883 6 in education both in school and with the staff team.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The therapist’s input has helped the young people to settle and provided the staff team with skills to support the young people. However, the underpinning knowledge is not yet embedded, and further training is needed for them to fully support the young people using the therapeutic model identified.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are supported to see their families and friends, with the manager and staff taking on additional responsibilities to make this positive. This has included additional support for family members to reduce the worries the young person was having about the family members’ well-being. As a result, the young person has openly said she is less stressed and enjoys the time with her family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager is proactive in challenging others to provide the young people with the best possible care. She has escalated her concerns when needed, which has led to the young people receiving additional support.

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

Young people say that they feel safe in the home and that they know how to complain and to raise issues. The young people feel supported by staff and are able to discuss concerns. Concerns are listened to and responded to quickly.

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

The manager and team have worked well with the police and the young people to put clear plans in place when they are missing from home. As a result, there has been a significant reduction in missing from home incidents. Robust plans are in place, which maintain the safety of young people when they stay away from the home.

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

When concerns have occurred regarding young people’s safety, these have quickly been escalated and addressed. For one young person, the staff have been proactive in putting protective plans in place and have maintained a positive relationship with the young person so that they are able to access support from the staff. These plans have increased the safety of the young person and maintained positive relationships.

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

Risks to the young people are known and fully understood. However, at times, this has led to an over-cautious approach and unnecessary room searches have taken place as part of standard practice rather than when needed. This reduces the trust the young people have in staff as well as the young people relying on the staff team rather than developing their own positive ways to cope with stress and anxiety.

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

Sanctions in place are effective and proportionate. However, since the change to new documentation, this has not been completed and lacks the clarity which demonstrates that young people have been involved in the discussions about the sanctions. Young people may not fully learn from their actions or learn to take responsibility if they are not given the opportunity to take part in discussions.

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

Key-work sessions have taken place for both young people to provide the young people Inspection report children’s home: SC063883 7 with opportunities to access support and to receive advice and guidance. The staff are proactive in using ad hoc opportunities with the young people and do not rely on set times for work to be undertaken. Young people are continuously receiving support and have access to staff who listen and care about their well-being.

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

There have been some medication errors during this period. However, these have been addressed and plans are in place to improve practice to ensure that medication is administered in line with company policy.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is ambitious and has high aspirations for the young people. This is shared by the team, and the young people have progressed since their starting points.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is proactive in fighting for the rights of the young people and has sought support from external agencies to help the young people’s voices to be heard. While this has caused some issues with the local authority, it was in the best interests of the young people and shows the determination of the manager to make sure that the young people have a say in their lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager understands the strengths and weaknesses of the home and is open to advice to improve practice. She has put plans in place to support the development of the team and to continue to improve the care provided to the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff supervisions are supportive and enable staff to develop their own skills. They provide an opportunity for issues to be discussed and any concerns raised are quickly addressed. The quick response to concerns has meant the team has settled conflicts quickly and so has not affected the care the young people have received. However, newer staff members have not received supervisions in line with the home’s statement of purpose, which has affected their professional development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings have lacked attendance by staff and are not occurring regularly, which could affect the consistency of the care provided should this continue. Therapeutic input into the home is taking place. However, as the team members are not all attending the meetings, this is not having the full benefit on staff’s understanding of the therapeutic model. The staff are also not able to receive therapeutic support to manage their own feelings or receive guidance on how to cope with these.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff recruitment is robust and keeps the young people safe. Any issues that occur are thoroughly explored prior to employment and risk assessed. Issues arising during employment are acted upon quickly to continue to keep the young people safe. Inspection report children’s home: SC063883 8

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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 home (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s home regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: SC063883 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: c/o Pinsett Mason LLP, The Soloist Building, 1 Lanyon Place, Belfast, Northern Ireland BT1 3LP

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Inspector

Debra Boldy: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC063883 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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