Children's Home run by Meadows Care Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report children’s home: 2563544 1 Registered provider: Meadows Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned and run and is registered to provide care for up to three children. At the time of the inspection, one child was living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 2 February 2021 to carry out a monitoring visit. This report is published on our website.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 2563544 2

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improvement to be good

Not all children who have lived at the home have made progress, and some children’s progress has faltered.

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improvement to be good

Staff have been unable to meet some children’s needs or forge trusting and meaningful relationships with them. This has resulted in a child experiencing an emergency move from the home.

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improvement to be good

Children have not experienced care from a stable and consistent staff team. There has been a high turnover of staff and a high number of non-core staff used to cover shifts.

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improvement to be good

Few core staff are drivers. This has resulted in ever-changing staff from other homes being used to transport and supervise a child at school. These arrangements also result in the child arriving at school after the school day has started.

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improvement to be good

Staff have not always been able to provide and maintain clear and consistent boundaries for children. This has resulted in a high number of incidents in the home.

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improvement to be good

Since being at the home, the children are beginning to value the role education plays in their lives and focus on lessons. One child has made progress with regards to increasing their education attendance.

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improvement to be good

The child currently living at the home engages well with the therapy offered by the home’s psychologist. This provides emotional support and help to enable the child to develop resilience and a positive self-view.

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improvement to be good

The child said that she feels safe at the home and professionals would concur with this view.

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improvement to be good

There has been a high number of prolonged and repeated incidents in the home that have required police assistance to manage. Staff have not been effective in deescalating situations and have been reactive.

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improvement to be good

The management of incidents by staff and managers has not been effective in preventing their recurrence. Some staff have not felt supported by managerial on- call arrangements or advice given. Inspection report children’s home: 2563544 3 Staff have not received timely refresher training in key areas. There are missed opportunities to improve staff’s abilities to respond appropriately to the needs of children.

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improvement to be good

Since the discharge of a child from the home, the frequency of such incidents has significantly reduced.

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improvement to be good

Staff respond appropriately to incidents of missing from home and follow agreed protocols. However, as only a few core staff drive, this has meant that staff have had to go looking for children on foot. This has required over an hour’s walk at night to find children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager is suitably experienced and was registered to manage the home in February 2020.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Management oversight of the home is weak. During the inspection, the manager was unaware of several issues: for example, how children had gained access to the staff car, that children had removed items from the office during incidents and that staff team meetings had been poorly recorded.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff have not benefited from key information and dissemination of decisions. For example, weekly managerial meetings with the home’s therapist are not recorded or shared, and minutes of meetings with local authorities have not been obtained.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Important decisions, such as the termination of a child’s placement at the home, were not shared with staff at the time.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There has been a large turnover of staff at the home and a very high number of non-permanent staff used. Staff have not always felt supported, and morale among staff is low. They have not always considered that managers have effectively responded to their concerns.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There are missed opportunities to support staff in their roles. Supervisions do not discuss children in detail or evaluate children’s progress and they are not reflective. Team meetings do not record discussions in relation to advice given to staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There are a number of serious incidents that have not been notified to Ofsted. This reduces the regulatory body’s oversight of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers are aware of some of the shortfalls. However, there is no written workforce development plan that systematically addresses those weaknesses.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Training identified to address the shortfalls in staff’s confidence and knowledge base was not actioned or has been delayed. The reasoning offered was that this was due to the crisis that the staff were in. Inspection report children’s home: 2563544 4 A requirement made at the monitoring visit has not been met and therefore has been reinstated. Inspection report children’s home: 2563544 5

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person must comply within the given timescales.

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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 to fulfil their potential.

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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)(a) (2)(f))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to advice given by the therapist being disseminated to staff and managers and ensuring that the advice is appropriately acted on. In addition, this information should be clearly recorded. 30 June 2021

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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 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; 31 July 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2563544 6 ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for 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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(c)(d)(e)(h))

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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 to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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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 the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that there are sufficient core staff on shift at the home who are able to transport children to and from school and search for them outside the immediate area when incidents of missing from home occur. 31 July 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(b)(e)) 30 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that individual and group supervision, and team meetings, focus on the needs and progress of children. In addition, practice 30 June 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2563544 7 should be evaluated and reflected on. In addition, staff feedback should be used to inform the developments and improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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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—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12(1) (2)(a)(ii)(iii)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff have the skills and experience to effectively de-escalate incidents and are able to implement strategies that mitigate reoccurrence. 30 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (12) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (2)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that damaged caused in the home is repaired and redecorated and items previously removed due to damage are replaced. In addition, the home should be kept clean and covering to the stairs replaced or secured. 30 June 2021

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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 limitations 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; 30 June 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2563544 8 is necessary and proportionate;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised. (Regulation 21 (b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii))

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)) 31 July 2021

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that a workforce development plan is in place that clearly identifies timescales and actions relating to staff training, skills, qualifications and improving practice. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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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: 2563544 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Meadows Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Egerton House, Wardle Road, Rochdale, Lancashire OL12 9EN

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Inspectors

Pauline Yates, Social Care Inspector Caroline Bertram, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2563544 10 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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