Children's Home run by Oracle Care Limited in Bedford

Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC484114 1 SC484114

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Oracle Care Limited

Monitoring visit Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The privately owned home provides care, education and clinical support for up to three children.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since June 2019.

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This monitoring visit

The home was judged to be good at the last full inspection on 13 November 2019.

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This monitoring visit

Ofsted received an increased number of notifications from the provider in December 2020. These notifications showed that the police were called to help manage one child’s behaviour. This child has returned to his local authority area in line with his care plan. At the time of the visit, two children were living at the home.

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This monitoring visit

The purpose of this visit was to ensure that staff have the required skills and are receiving the support that they need to manage the behaviours of the children in their care. The visit also focused on how staff protected the children and promoted their sense of safety during this unsettled period of time. The visit took place remotely.

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This monitoring visit

The registered manager is on maternity leave. The deputy manager initially covered the role but has chosen to return to his substantive post. The service manager is overseeing the day-to-day running of the home.

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This monitoring visit

The registered manager’s maternity leave coincided with two new children moving to the home in November 2020. Staff said that there was ‘a lot of change’, and this change occurred at the same time that tighter COVID-19 restrictions came into force. This meant that staff were limited in providing individual activities for children out of the home. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC484114 2 One child presented with behaviours that, at times, required the use of physical intervention. Staff have up-to-date physical-intervention training but had not used restraint for a long period of time. Some staff considered use of intervention to be a failure of their practice and others lacked confidence in physically holding a child in a restraint. This led to a challenging couple of months for staff. One child, who was settled and making good progress at the home, felt unsafe at times. He was able to

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This monitoring visit

confide in staff and school staff about his experiences at the time. Staff did their best to shield the children from the effects of seeing and hearing aggression. Staff provided children with an increased physical presence and offered emotional support. More recent incident reports demonstrate that staff have responded to verbal and physical aggression with more confidence and consistency.

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This monitoring visit

Police were called to the home on five occasions over the Christmas period when one child was physically aggressive and using items in the home as weapons to threaten staff. Senior managers quickly identified that staff needed additional support to feel confident in managing this child’s behaviour. Managers were proactive in addressing this issue by increasing staffing levels.

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This monitoring visit

The acting manager was proactive in facilitating a ‘lessons learned’ exercise with the staff team following incidents of the police being called to the home. Staff were able to reflect on their practice and identify areas of improvement, which have been formed into an action plan for the home.

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This monitoring visit

The acting manager led a session with the staff that was focused on managing behaviour. The manager has reinforced the expectation that staff manage behaviour effectively to convey to the children that they can keep them safe.

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This monitoring visit

The acting manager ensures that supervision and debriefs are opportunities for staff to share their experiences, in addition to reviewing practice. Staff also use regular clinician time to inform their approach to supporting the children and to talk about their own support needs.

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This monitoring visit

Individual risk assessments provide clear actions for staff to follow. One child’s behaviour highlighted risks associated with the property, including the ability to access the roof from an adjacent fence. A risk assessment for the property identifies measures for staff to follow to reduce this risk.

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This monitoring visit

Impact risk assessments are detailed. They did not identify any risk that managers felt could not be mitigated for the child who has moved on.

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This monitoring visit

No requirements have been identified at this visit. A previous requirement relating to notifications to Ofsted has been met, as has a previous recommendation on management oversight of consequences and sanctions. One recommendation has been reinstated as this was not looked at as part of this monitoring visit. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC484114 3

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 13/11/2019 Full Good 14/06/2018 Full Good 13/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 12/09/2016 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC484114 4

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Recommendations

 The registered provider should ensure that children’s records represent a significant contribution to their life history. Staff should understand their important role in encouraging the child to reflect on and understand their history, according to their age and understanding. Staff should keep, and encourage children to keep, appropriate memorabilia of their time spent living at the home and help them to record significant events. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5)

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to ensure that staff have the required skills and are receiving the support that they need to manage the children’s behaviour effectively.

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Information about this inspection

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

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Oracle Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Suites 1 & 5, Riverside Business Centre, Foundry Lane, Milford, Belper, Derbyshire DE56 0RN

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Inspectors

Paula Edwards, Social Care Inspector Nigel Parkes, Her Majesty’s Inspector, Social Care Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC484114 5 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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

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