Children's home run by Horizon Care and Education Group Limited

Inspection report children's home: 2490729 1 Registered provider: Horizon Care and Education Group Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company. The home is registered for three children who have experienced childhood trauma.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is registered with Ofsted and is appropriately qualified.

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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 28 and 29 September 2020 to carry out an assurance visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 2490729 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/03/2020 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children's home: 2490729 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of this inspection, one child was living at the home. The child told the inspector that ‘everything was brilliant’ at the home. He has developed positive and secure relationships with the staff looking after him.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children have left the home since the assurance visit. When children leave, clear transition plans are put in place. Children who are approaching adulthood receive support to develop practical life skills such as budgeting, cooking and doing laundry. This means that children are prepared for independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child living in the home has continued to access education during the COVID-19 pandemic. He is supported by staff to engage. Managers and staff have regular communication with the child’s education provision. Consequently, the child is achieving and making progress from his starting point.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

M anagers and staff advocate for children to ensure that their placing authority care plans consider and reflect children’s views, wishes and feelings. This ensures that there is a coordinated response to finalising children’s next steps.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide children with key-work sessions on topics identified in their care plans. These sessions allow children to express their views, wishes and feelings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children develop positive relationships with staff. Children have access to a variety of activities outside of the home, for example, visits to the local park and seaside.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to attend health appointments. They encourage children to maintain active and healthy lifestyles. Staff do not always update children’s health plans to reflect steps taken to meet children’s needs. Recording of booking children’s medication into the home is not always clear. This was discussed with the manager and responsible individual during the inspection. The manager spoke with the local pharmacy to ensure that prescription labels were clear in relation to prescribed doses.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote children’s relationships with people who are important to them. The relationships between children’s families and staff is positive. During the inspection, a parent told an inspector that staff were doing an ‘amazing’ job and was very happy with the care being provided to her child.

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

Children’s risks are understood by managers and staff. However, there have been occasions when information contained in written documentation does not match children’s identified risks. For example, during a recent incident, staff made the decision to work outside of the current risk assessment when taking a child out in the car.. While this action appeared to reduce the presenting behaviours of the child, Inspection report children's home: 2490729 4 the actions taken by staff were not discussed with the on-call manager or placing authority before being implemented. The child was not harmed and there has been no further occurrence. All staff are now clear about the details in the child’s risk assessment and the importance of seeking further guidance before implementing changes.

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

When incidents occur in the home, staff ensure that incident report packs clearly detail what action has been taken. Following any incidents, children have the opportunity to explore their behaviours and actions in a key-work session.

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

Staff work well with professionals to ensure children are safe. For example, managers and staff have used the local police community support officer to discuss behaviours with children when serious incidents have occurred in the home.

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

Staff use effective de-escalation strategies to respond to challenging behaviour. Physical restraint is used as a last resort. Staff are up to date with the relevant and required physical restraint training. Following the use of physical restraint, children have the opportunity to speak to a member of staff. However, this is not always with someone who has been independent of the incident.

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

Children know how to complain. When children do complain, this is taken seriously and complaints are investigated by the manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is clear about the strengths and weaknesses of the home. She is committed to ensuring that the staff team delivers good-quality care to children. Managers and staff speak positively of the children they care for. They want children to succeed and ensure that they are provided with clear and consistent boundaries.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager continues to ensure that there are enough staff to meet the children’s needs in the home. There have been some staffing changes due to the current pandemic. When staffing changes have taken place, for example members of staff covering shifts, the manager has used the same staff to ensure continuity of care to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and staff receive regular supervision. This means that they are receiving regular feedback on their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has implemented monitoring systems to evaluate and assess the quality of care. However, these are not always effective in relation to staff training needs. For example, at the time of the inspection, some staff’s mandatory fire safety and medication training had lapsed. The manager and identified staff members did take action during the inspection to rectify this by completing or scheduling outstanding training. However, current systems do not ensure that the manager has full oversight of staff training needs to ensure that they are reviewed regularly. Inspection report children's home: 2490729 5 Managers and staff maintain good working relationships with children’s families and professionals. During the inspection, both families and professionals told the inspectors that they were pleased with the quality of care provided to children and that managers and staff keep them well informed. Inspection report children's home: 2490729 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 health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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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

achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to managers and staff clearly evidencing action taken in respect of children’s healthcare plans. 27 September 2021

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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—

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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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)) 27 September 2021 Inspection report children's home: 2490729 7 This relates to managers and staff working in line with children’s risk assessments and any changes being shared with relevant parties before being implemented.

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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

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;

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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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to managers ensuring that there are clear processes to review staff training before it lapses. 27 September 2021

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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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child. (Regulation 23 (1) (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to managers and staff ensuring that medication is clearly recorded and booked into the home. 27 September 2021 Inspection report children's home: 2490729 8

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that following the use of a physical restraint children are provided with the opportunity to speak to someone who was not involved in the incident. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36)

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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: 2490729 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Horizon Care and Education Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Venture House, Unit 12 Prospect Business Park, Longford Road, Cannock WS11 0LG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Agata Dokszewicz

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Inspectors

Sarah Junor-Fitzpatrick, Social Care Inspector Sophie Hills, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2490729 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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