Children's home run by Priory Education Services Limited

Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: 1245979 1

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Priory Education Services Limited

Monitoring visit Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A private company operates this home. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to five young people who may have social and/or emotional difficulties. However, this was reduced to two young people by the imposition of a variation on 14 February 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has been without a registered manager since July 2019. The current manager has been in post since September 2019 but has withdrawn her application to register with Ofsted. She continues to work in the home part-time while the provider recruits another manager.

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This monitoring visit

The home was judged to have declined in effectiveness at the interim inspection on 11 February 2020. Following this inspection, two compliance notices were issued. Ofsted imposed a variation to the condition of registration on 14 February 2020, reducing the number of young people that the home can care for to two.

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This monitoring visit

A monitoring inspection took place on 16 March 2020. The purpose of the inspection was to ensure that the home was compliant with the variation to the condition of registration and to review progress. At this inspection, little progress was found in regard to meeting the compliance notices, and additional concerns were identified. On 18 March 2020, a restriction notice was served to prevent further children being admitted to the home.

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This monitoring visit

This inspection was completed remotely due to COVID-19 (coronavirus). The inspector considered a sample of documents provided by email, conducted interviews with managers and gained feedback from the placing authority. At this monitoring inspection the responsible individual confirmed that there have been no new admissions to the home. There was one young person living in the home. Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: 1245979 2 Staffing within the home remains a concern. There has been no registered manager in post since July 2019. There are practice issues, and most staff members are on individual performance plans to address their practice. Since the last inspection, only two members of staff have successfully met performance targets within the time frames identified by the provider.

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This monitoring visit

Seven senior staff are not permitted to lead a shift as there are concerns with their ability to provide direction and support, and to follow protocols. The manager has reviewed staff rotas to ensure that each shift has a strong member of staff that she has confidence in. On inspection, the rota was found to be inaccurate. It recorded that two members of staff had been redeployed to another home, but they were still working at this home.

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This monitoring visit

Since the last monitoring inspection in March 2020, there have been further practice issues identified. One member of staff dispensed medication to a young person after dropping the medication on the floor. This member of staff also failed to document on the medication chart that medication had been dispensed. This member of staff has been placed on an individual performance plan.

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This monitoring visit

Despite the inspector being informed that weekly room searches were taking place, and in accordance with the young person’s risk assessment, paperwork reviewed showed that weekly room searches were not conducted for three consecutive weeks.

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This monitoring visit

Investigations remain ongoing into the practice of some staff for not following the protocols that were put in place to keep young people safe. Some staff continue to challenge instructions from managers, and they create barriers to improving practices within the home.

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This monitoring visit

Two new requirements were raised at this inspection, in relation to medication management and shortfalls with the staff rota. Two compliance notices have been reissued.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 11/02/2020 Interim Declined in effectiveness 01/07/2019 Full Good 31/10/2018 Full Good 13/03/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: 1245979 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (a)(c)) 02/06/2020

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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—

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Requirement Due date

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; help each child to understand how to keep safe; have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; and take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi))* 02/06/2020

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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 promotes their welfare. 02/06/2020 Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: 1245979 4 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose; ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; 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 use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(c)(e)(f)(h))*

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that—the privacy of children is appropriately protected; children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and 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; is necessary and proportionate; is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and 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)(i)(ii)(iv)) 02/06/2020

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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)) The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 02/06/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4; ensure that the records are kept up to date; and retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry. (Regulation 37(1)(2)(a)(b)(c)) Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: 1245979 5 This is in relation to maintaining a copy of an accurate staff duty roster of persons working at the home, and a record of the actual rosters worked. (Schedule 4(3)) The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard).

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Requirement Due date

When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (Regulation 46 (1)(2)) 02/06/2020

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 A record of supervision should be kept for staff, including the manager. The record should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation 33(4)(b). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)  When a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  Records must be kept detailing all individual incidents when children go missing from the home (regulation 36 (schedule 3(14)). This information should be shared

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Recommendations

with the placing authority and, where appropriate, with the child’s parents. Evaluation of missing incidents should be undertaken to identify any gaps in training, skills or knowledge for staff or to record and retain evidence of what worked well. This evaluation should inform the review of the quality of care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.31)  Any sanctions used to address poor behaviour should be restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. In some cases, it will be important for children to make reparation in some form to anyone hurt by their behaviour, and the staff in the home should be skilled to support the child to understand this and carry it out. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)

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Recommendations

 Examples of incidents that are likely to be considered serious and to be affecting the welfare of a child include: a child being the victim or perpetrator of a serious Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: 1245979 6 assault; a serious illness or accident; and a serious incident of self-harm, or serious concerns over a child’s missing behaviour, particularly where the child is considered to be at grave risk due to age or vulnerability or where they have been missing for a considerable period of time and their whereabouts is unknown. This is not an exhaustive list and homes must assess each case individually taking into account any patterns of behaviour or unusual behaviour which may indicate an increased risk to the child. Homes should also consider the frequency of incidents and judge whether their cumulative effect makes notification appropriate even if in isolation each event would not warrant this. (‘Guide to the children’s homes

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Recommendations

regulations including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.11)

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Recommendations

This is in regards to notifying Ofsted when a young person goes missing from home.

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken and the progress made by the children’s home since its last Ofsted inspection.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000.

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Information about this inspection

Ofsted is aware of the challenges that COVID-19 (coronavirus) is currently posing to those we inspect. During this visit, the inspectors took into consideration the impact of any measures being taken to slow the spread of Coronavirus by the home. This has included the effect these have had on staffing arrangements.

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Priory Education Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Priory Group, 80 Hammersmith Road, London W14 8UD

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Inspector

Debbie Holder, social care inspector Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: 1245979 7 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 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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