Children's Home run by Osei Minkah Care Ltd in Wolverhampton

Inspection report children‟s home: 1277449 1 Registered provider: Osei Minkah Care Limited

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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 provider is registered to provide care and accommodation to five young people who have learning disabilities and/or mental disorders. The home is dual registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

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Information about this children’s home

A qualified registered manager is in post.

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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 serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and/or the care and experiences of children and young people are poor. They are not making progress.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: 1277449 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/08/2019 Full Inadequate Inspection report children‟s home: 1277449 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that staff take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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Requirement Due date

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;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are located so that children are effectively safeguarded. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(vi)(vii)(c)(d)) 10/01/2020

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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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In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(b)(2)(c)(h)) 31/01/2020

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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. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)) 31/01/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— 10/01/2020 Inspection report children‟s home: 1277449 4 within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure; a description of the measure and its duration; details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure; the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used; within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—has spoken to the user about the measure; and has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they

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Requirement Due date

have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(ii)(iv)(v)(vi)(b)(ii)(c))* Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home. The registered person must maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4. (Regulation 37 (1)(2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to all staff, including agency staff’s details being included on the rota when they work in the home. 31/01/2020

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. Professionally qualified staff employed by the home, e.g. teachers or social workers, should be provided with relevant professional or clinical supervision by an appropriately qualified and experienced professional. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2) This relates to the quality of the written record of supervision.  As set out in regulations 31-33, the registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations

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Recommendations

including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1) This relates to the recruitment checks of staff who were provided by the local authority to work in the home. Inspection report children‟s home: 1277449 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

When the registered provider made the decision to move in a new young person to the home, the planning of this move was poor. This resulted in the staff being ill-prepared for meeting the young person’s complex needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

This decision has undermined the initial good progress seen at the monitoring visit carried out by Ofsted in October 2019.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff could not initially safely manage the new young person’s aggressive behaviour. This was because the registered manager had agreed to move in the young person before the staff had received physical restraint training. The young person’s placing local authority provided staff as a temporary measure until the home’s staff had received this essential training. The impact risk assessment, completed by the registered manager prior to the young person moving in, lacked detail. The assessment failed to consider the young person’s known risks and her vulnerabilities and how these should be safely managed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Recently, there has been significant damage caused to the property by the new young person. The registered manager has responded swiftly to organise for repairs to be completed and has ordered new, tougher furniture. However, in the interim period, young people are living in an unacceptable environment that reflects a run-down home. For example, the downstairs windows are boarded up due to being broken. The living room and dining room are empty rooms, with minimal furniture and no soft furnishings due to the damage caused. As a result, young people do not currently have a homely environment to live in that meets their needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The registered manager has worked with an agency to ensure that the new young person receives the high level of staffing required to meet her care needs. This has helped to provide a level of consistent care to the young person.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff ensure that young people’s health needs are met. Young people attend primary healthcare appointments with their doctors, dentist and opticians. The registered manager and staff work with other health professionals, particularly mental health practitioners to ensure that young people’s emotional health needs are closely monitored.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The registered manager gathers young people’s views during house meetings and uses feedback forms and acts on any request. This helps young people to feel listened to and valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Despite the shortfalls, young people continue to make good progress in some areas of their life. For instance, one young person has finished his college course and is enjoying driving lessons that are being funded by the home. Another young person now has unsupervised time away from the home without staff being with him and will Inspection report children‟s home: 1277449 6 be spending unsupervised time with his family during the Christmas period.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

When young people are not in education, the registered manager works hard to seek the help of other professionals to secure a place at the most appropriate educational provision.

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

One young person has required a high level of physical intervention in order to keep her and others safe. The level of detail recorded about these interventions is poor. Records made by staff do not always include key information. For instance, some records are missing information about the type of physical restraint method that was used by the staff, details regarding which staff were involved in the physical restraint and how long the young person was physically held by the staff. The absence of essential detail means that it is not possible to be assured that physical restraint practice carried out by staff is safe, proportionate and in line with regulation.

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

The level of physical intervention that is used for the one young person has been significant. On one occasion, the young person was held on the ground by four members of staff. As a result of the poor level of recording, it is not possible to determine if this was a proportionate intervention. During the inspection, the registered manager was not able to evidence that debriefs had been carried out with staff or the young person following each physical restraint. Consequently, the poor recording and the registered manager’s failure to ensure that debriefs take place mean that staff practice is not closely monitored or regularly reviewed, and the young person’s views are not acknowledged.

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

The registered manager has shown that she can act appropriately to ensure that young people are safeguarded from poor practice. For example, the registered manager dismissed one member of staff and made a referral to the Disclosure and Barring Service when concerns emerged over the member of staff’s practice. However, the manager has not been consistent with her safeguarding practice. For example, during one physical restraint a safeguarding concern was raised. Although this was immediately reported to the registered manager, it took her three days to share the information with the young person’s placing local authority and she did not inform the designated safeguarding officer in line with the home’s safeguarding procedure. This delay has resulted in the incident not being appropriately investigated.

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

Since the last full inspection, one young person has been missing from the home on one occasion. Staff took appropriate action and followed the home’s missing-from-care protocol to secure the young person’s safe return home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Inspection report children‟s home: 1277449 7 Management oversight and monitoring of the quality of care are poor. Consequently, the registered manager does not understand the weaknesses and does not act to resolve areas of risk and/or concern. These failings compromise young people’s safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager is using a high number of additional members of staff from an agency each day to maintain the supervision levels required for one young person. The staff rota does not contain the required information to confirm which staff are working at the home on any given day. Consequently, if information regarding staffing is required in the future, the registered manager does not have a reliable way of providing the information.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager does not have an effective system in place so that all staff receive regular supervision of their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Despite the many challenges, professionals continue to recognise the progress made by young people living in the home. Overall, communication between the registered manager and social workers is positive. However, some social workers have begun to raise some concerns about the impact that the new young person is having on the other young people living in the home.

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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: 1277449 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Osei Minkah Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Trilogy Suite 9 Church Street, Wednesfield, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire WV11 1SR

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Inspector

Lisa O’Donovan, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: 1277449 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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