Children's Home run by Essandore Limited in St Helens

Inspection report children's home: SC066218 1 SC066218 Registered provider: Essandore Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

A private company owns the home, which provides care for up to six children. The provider states in their statement of purpose that they provide care for children with learning difficulties and physical disabilities.

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Information about this children's home

There are four children living in the home at the time of this inspection. The registered manager has been in post since 2006.

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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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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

Date of last inspection: 13 February 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children's home: SC066218 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/02/2020 Full Outstanding 06/12/2018 Full Good 10/10/2017 Full Good 22/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC066218 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There have been some great challenges faced since the last inspection due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was important that the children and staff were kept healthy and safe. Some children struggled with disruption in their daily routines while having to self-isolate and experienced difficulties in attending their usual activities. Staff have worked extremely well as a team under these pressures. At times, there were struggles in obtaining the required personal protection equipment and staff having to self-isolate. Despite these difficulties, children have received a high level of good- quality care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from individualised care. The home offers children a warm and nurturing environment. The home is large and requires ongoing maintenance to ensure that it is homely and safe. Some of the children’s bedrooms walls require re- decoration and the doors of the children’s wet rooms require attention.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The inspector observed staff and children enjoying their time together. Staff engage naturally; this is helping to build positive relationships and make children feel at ease. Children enjoy access to a wide sensory diet. This enables them to build on their experiences. Staff compile videos and scrapbooks to help children understand their life story.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are settled and making good progress. One parent said, ‘The staff are great, if I need to change things, they are flexible.’ A social worker said, ‘Communication is excellent, and the staff could not provide better support.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Despite the challenges the home faced during the pandemic, two children successfully moved into the home during this time. The manager and staff tailored the transition plan to match the needs of each child. A social story was used with one child to help them understand the moving process. This supported the child to settle in well. When children have moved out of the home, this has been planned and managed well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A wide variety of communication methods are used with the children in the home. Staff are skilled in their use of picture exchange communication and makaton. This means that the children can develop their communication, build on their self-esteem and become confident in making their own choices.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most children attend school on a full-time basis and are making good progress. Where there have been difficulties with one child due to his high levels of anxiety, staff have worked proactively with a range of professionals to help the child overcome these barriers.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff and management advocate effectively to ensure that children are provided with the provision that meets their needs. Strong partnership working with social Inspection report children's home: SC066218 4 workers, school heads and virtual school is in place to improve children’s educational outcomes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are being promoted in the home. Health plans are individualised and written in a child-friendly and person-centred way. All children have up-to-date health assessments and have attended all necessary appointments. The team works well with outside agencies such as the child and mental health service and educational psychologists. Multi-agency collaboration is a key strength.

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

Positive behaviour support is a key feature of the home. Children are supported with a range of techniques and strategies to help them gain new skills in learning to wait. The use of timers and visual aids for two children is effective. This has meant that children’s understanding has been enhanced and incidents have significantly reduced.

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

Physical restraint has been used when necessary, but only as a last resort to keep children safe. Records are completed and evaluated by managers.

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

Staff use several different reward systems. Each one is adapted to each child, taking into account their understanding. Positive praise is part of the home’s ethos and culture.

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

There are effective and robust medication procedures in place to ensure that all children have the appropriate and correct medication that they need in order to maintain their emotional well-being.

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

The inspector found that while there was a wide range of training available, some staff have not had refresher training in physical intervention, autism awareness and fire awareness, and one member of staff requires first-aid training. This means not all staff have up-to-date knowledge and skills in some key areas to support children in their care.

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

Recruitment procedures and practices are safe and effective. All staff are checked and vetted prior to starting work. These checks ensure that only suitable adults are employed to work with children in the home.

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

There are high levels of staffing in the home required to meet the children’s complex needs and behaviours. This means children are always supervised. However, the registered manager must ensure that all children have a suitable and up-to-date missing from care procedure in place. This will provide staff with vital information should a child go missing. Additionally, the registered manager must ensure that each child has a personal emergency plan in place that is reviewed regularly so children are fully supported at night in the event of a fire and their safety is not compromised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Inspection report children's home: SC066218 5 Staff are well supported by a suitably qualified and experienced registered manager and deputy; both have been in post for a number of years. The staff said that managers are approachable and offer an open-door policy.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s case records are written in a child-centred way. However, some of the records lack accuracy. For example, a child’s care plan and health plan had more than one social worker’s name wrongly recorded. The inspector also found that some plans where not always signed and dated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monthly team meetings provide a good forum to share information about the children’s plans and progress. All new staff undertake good-quality induction training. They familiarise themselves with policies, procedures and children’s case records. New staff are given opportunities to shadow team members when they first join the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager’s auditing and reviewing systems are not always effective, and this lack of oversight has led to some plans and procedures not being accurate or lacking vital information. The inspector found that some staff did not have all the required mandatory training. Therefore, staff are not always provided with up-to- date information and skills to keep the children safe from harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff have been able to grow and develop their practice because of the good- quality support and regular supervision that is provided. The management have high expectations of them. Consequently, the staff work well with children who have complex needs. Inspection report children's home: SC066218 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

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— that staff— 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;

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that each child has a personal emergency evacuation plan in place to be used in the event of a fire and that its is reviewed and signed. Additionally, each child has an individual missing from care procedure that is reviewed regularly and provides information about what to do if a child was missing.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)) 03 September

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that—

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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 have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; and

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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.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring all staff have completed all mandatory training in MAPPA, fire awareness and first aid and ensuring all documentation on children’s case files is accurate, dated and signed by author and manager.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (2)(c)(h)) 03 September Inspection report children's home: SC066218 7 The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

Include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to children’s care plans, health action plans, missing from home procedures and personal emergency evacuation plans.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 03 September

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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: SC066218 8

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: c/o Harrison Latham, 97 Tulketh Street, Birkenhead, Merseyside PR8 1AW

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Inspector

Judith Birchall, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC066218 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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