Children's home run by Aspris Care North West Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 2531755 1 Registered provider: Sandcastle Care Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered for up to four young males with emotional, behavioural and social difficulties. The home offers a service to young males who benefit from a placement in a smaller, single-gender residential setting where they can access therapeutic interventions .

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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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 2531755 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

This is the home’s first inspection. Inspection report children’s home: 2531755 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff provide a sense of stability and security and help the young people experience a nurturing therapeutic environment, which enables them to begin to address previous trauma.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and the staff build positive relationships with the young people and help them to begin to express their wishes and feelings and begin to develop strategies through therapy to help them manage their thoughts and feelings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support young people in accessing positive family time with their loved ones. This supports their identity and helps them to build and retain positive relationships with their family members. This has supported one young person in rebuilding a relationship with relatives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people have weekly therapy sessions, young people’s meetings, keywork sessions and individual work. This enables them to have a purposeful say in the day- to-day running of their home. The young people engage in these meetings and keywork sessions positively and said that they feel listened to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are accessible and support the young people in developing levels of independence within the home and in the wider community. This supports the young people in having positive interests and hobbies, which helps them to manage their emotional and behavioral needs and provides them with the structure, routine and boundaries they need.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home continues to develop its practice to support the stability of the placement for most of the young people. However, at times the information gathered prior to admission did not enable the manager to make a full analysis of a young person’s specific care needs. As a result, staff were unable to meet the needs of the young person, and the placement ended.

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

The young people in the home at present have made good progress since admission. There has been a reduction in physical interventions, missing from care and risk-taking behaviours. Staff work daily with the young people alongside the therapist who provides weekly interventions to address risk-taking behaviours. As a result, the young people enjoy settled placements and are making good progress.

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

When there are safeguarding concerns, the staff act promptly and work in partnership with other agencies to help safeguard the young people. Staff make relevant referrals and access specialist support to help manage the risk-taking behaviours of young people. For example, staff have worked with the alcohol and substance misuse team and a looked after children’s nurse to help safeguard one young person after an incident which led to him needing hospitalisation. Inspection report children’s home: 2531755 4 Good behaviour is praised and rewarded, which stimulates more socially acceptable behaviours. Preventative behaviour management practices have been successful because of the positive relationships that exist between the staff and young people. Staff are able to identify and respond quickly to issues that arise and de-escalate incidents effectively.

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

The staff have accessed specialist training to help safeguard the young people. For example, staff recently accessed ligature and diabetes training to meet the needs of one young person after he disclosed self-harm.

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

Young people’s needs and vulnerabilities are understood and recorded in comprehensive risk assessments. Changes in behaviour and emerging risks are quickly identified and routinely shared among the staff team and other professionals. This level of communication helps maintain young people’s safety.

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

The manager and staff are resilient and have worked through the challenges that some of the young people have presented with, which have led to placements ending at short notice to help safeguard the young people and staff. The young people currently living at the home told the inspector that they feel safe and that they can talk to the staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has good experience of working in children’s homes and has managed the home since registration. He is ambitious and is present and accessible in the home to the young people and the staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager strives to create a family environment for the young people and involves them in the decision-making about their home by ensuring that they are consulted and that he and the staff are accessible to help the young people begin to make better choices and have improved outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has strong and effective relationships with other professionals. He is proactive in seeking out services when required. This partnership approach means that young people have access to a range of support services within the community.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff have access to training and development opportunities and are supported to develop their careers. Staff confirmed that their training is useful and informative and supports them to meet the specific needs of the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good understanding of the home’s strengths and areas for development and has an updated workforce development plan in place, which is regularly reviewed to help meet the evolving needs of young people. Recording systems are good and when there are areas for improvement the manager can challenge his staff and other professionals to support the progression of the young people’s care plans. Inspection report children’s home: 2531755 5 The manager provides the staff with purposeful supervision alongside regular team meetings and therapeutic guidance, which supports the development of the staff’s therapeutic practice. However, not all staff have received regular supervision. This has the potential to have an impact on practice and hinder the development needs of individual staff members.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Regular fire evacuation drills are routinely carried out. However, records are unclear. Therefore, the manager cannot be assured that all new staff and young people have been present when a fire drill has taken place. This means that staff and young people are not fully rehearsed on how to leave the home, should there be a real emergency. Inspection report children’s home: 2531755 6

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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

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b)) 30/06/2020

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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—

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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

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. (Regulation 13 (1)(2)(f)) 30/06/2020

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home.

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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 children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(2)(a)) 30/06/2020 Inspection report children’s home: 2531755 7 The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff have regular supervision to support them with their practice and development. 30/06/2020

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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: 2531755 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Sandcastle Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 49 Whitegate Drive, Blackpool, Lancashire FY3 9DG

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Inspector

Noel Cooper, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2531755 9 to 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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