Children's Home run by Hillcrest Children‟s Services (2) Limited in Telford and Wrekin

Inspection report children's home: SC398377 1 SC398377 Registered provider: Hillcrest Children's Services (2) Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

This home provides care for up to four children who have adverse early childhood experiences and trauma. A large national provider operates this home.

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Information about this children's home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since August 2019. He holds a level 5 qualification in leadership and management.

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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: 27 November 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC398377 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/11/2019 Full Good 07/01/2019 Full Good 22/08/2017 Full Good 15/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC398377 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive well-planned care that enables them to settle quickly when they move in. Staff make children feel welcome by cooking their favourite meal and support children to personalise their bedrooms. Children quickly build positive relationships with staff and peers.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to keep in touch with their friends and family. The registered manager works well with family members and social workers to review plans around family time. For example, one child has recently been able to visit a family member overnight. This good work helps children to keep in touch with people who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are registered with local health services. Staff encourage children to develop daily self-care routines and support children to access healthcare appointments. On one occasion, staff have not kept a record of a dental appointment that was arranged but not attended by the child. This could lead to confusion about when the child last attended the dentist. Children can access help from the organisation’s therapist, who also provides consultation and guidance to staff. This supports children’s emotional health and well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Three children attend the organisation’s school. One child has recently completed her exams and is due to attend a college to study a subject that she is passionate about. One child whose attendance is inconsistent needs more support from staff to understand why he cannot attend a mainstream school. One child has recently completed a Duke of Edinburgh silver award. Overall, children continue to make progress with their education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff support children’s identity. Children feel comfortable to explore their sexuality and gender identity. Staff are supportive of this and have completed training on transgender and sexual orientation. Managers and staff work closely with an external organisation which provides specialist support to children about these issues. In addition, managers and staff follow guidance from the clinical team and this work is ongoing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to take part in activities that they enjoy. One child has an interest in Warhammer, and has a large display of figures in his bedroom that he has hand painted. Another child has won a trophy for the football team he plays for. There are two children who enjoy drawing, and their artwork is displayed in their bedroom and on walls around the home. One child recently returned from a holiday. He spoke positively about his time away with staff and the adventures they had. Staff capture children’s positive experiences in photographs and arrange for these to be made into a child-friendly memory book. Staff also capture children’s positive attributes in the book. This helps children to have fun and promotes their self-worth. Inspection report children's home: SC398377 4

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improvement to be good

Staff ensure that children have consistent daily routines in place. This helps them to understand what is expected of them. Good structures help children to manage their behaviours and emotions at times of day that can sometimes be challenging for them.

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improvement to be good

Managers and staff know and understand children’s behaviours and risks. However, children’s written plans do not always identify the strategies that staff use to keep children safe. For example, staff provide children with first aid and offer support to access health services following incidents of self-harm. However, this control measure is not recorded in the child’s plan. The registered manager and staff reflect on incidents and identify new triggers and warning signs, but these are not always captured in children’s plans. A lack of clear recording in plans means that staff may manage risk differently, resulting in children receiving inconsistent care.

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improvement to be good

Children rarely go missing from the home. Staff identify early warning signs in children’s behaviours and use de-escalation strategies to prevent children from leaving the home without their agreement. Staff respond well when children do go missing from home. They search locations close to the home and areas children are known to go. Staff report children missing to the local police service and share concerns with the child’s family and social worker. Children who have been missing are welcomed home often with a drink and something to eat. Staff use their positive relationships with children to explore if they have been safe while missing from home and gather information that may support finding them in the future. This good support helps to keep children safe. Managers ensure that police complete welfare checks on children following a missing period. They also make a request to the child’s social worker to arrange for an independent person to discuss the incident

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improvement to be good

with the child. However, when social workers do not respond to these requests, the registered manager does not escalate this concern. This is a missed opportunity to gather additional information that could be used to help keep a child safe.

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improvement to be good

Children do not often present behaviours that require staff to use physical intervention to keep them safe. Staff receive training in behaviour management, including physical intervention, but only use this as a last resort. Incidents of physical interventions are recorded by staff, reviewed by managers and shared with the child’s social workers. However, the description of physical intervention techniques used lacks detail and does not provide sufficient information to support managers to evaluate the appropriateness of the hold effectively.

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improvement to be good

One new staff member has started working in the home. This person has been safely recruited. The registered manager occasionally uses agency workers when there are gaps in the rota. On these occasions, they are managed well and work with staff who know the home and the children. However, agency staff do not have the same level of rigour applied to their recruitment checks. For example, a reference had not been verified for one worker and there were some gaps in another’s employment history that had not been accounted for. Inspection report children's home: SC398377 5 The registered manager has appropriately responded to a concern about a member of staff that was raised by a child following an incident when he was restrained. The concern was shared with the child’s social worker and local authority designated officer. A joint investigation took place. On a separate occasion, the child raised that he had an injury after being hurt by a staff member, and the report was shared with

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improvement to be good

the child’s social worker. The manager was not able to show that further discussion with the social worker or local designated officer had taken place. These inconsistencies in responding to concerns about staff practice do not fully promote children’s welfare.

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improvement to be good

Managers ensure that the home is well maintained, and health and safety checks are routinely completed by staff. Fire safety audits of the home have been completed and firefighting equipment and emergency lighting are maintained and serviced on an annual basis. As a result, children live in a safe environment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers understand the home’s strengths and areas for development to achieve their vision for the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are always sufficient, suitably experienced and consistent staff working with children. Most staff hold a relevant qualification and those who do not are expected to complete this within the required timescale. Staff receive relevant training to support them to meet the individual needs of the children. As a result, children receive care from knowledgeable and skilled staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision from managers and feel supported. Supervision provides staff with the opportunity to explore their welfare and reflect on their practice and development. Managers appraise staff performance annually. This creates a supportive culture that aids development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children are supported to share their views on the care they receive through regular children’s meetings and weekly meetings. This provides children with an opportunity to contribute to the day-to-day running of the home and ensures that staff understand the care they need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers work well with people who are important to children. Social workers are happy with the care and support children receive and feel that communication with the registered manager is good. Managers and staff work in line with children’s plans and seek support and guidance from specialists when necessary. One healthcare professional spoke positively about the good working relationships staff have with them and the support they provide to the child. As a result of this coordinated approach, there have been significant improvements to one child’s health condition.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are systems in place for monitoring the home. The registered manager completes a weekly audit on the home which is shared with the responsible Inspection report children's home: SC398377 6 individual. Sometimes there are delays in the manager reviewing children’s records. For example, on one occasion, a consequence had not been reviewed by the manager within the expected timescale. Managers’ reviews of risk assessments and incidents of physical interventions do not always identify gaps in information recorded. These are missed opportunities for developing practice. Inspection report children's home: SC398377 7

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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—

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child's welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager must ensure that all allegations against staff working in the home are reviewed by the child’s local authority and designated officer. 17 September

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Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This refers to the registered manager ensuring that staff make a record of all of children’s health appointments and any outcome, provide all the required details in restraint records and ensure that risk management plans contain all relevant information. 17 September Inspection report children's home: SC398377 8

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Recommendations

 The registered person should play a full part in promoting the best interests of children, proactively advocating for the child to ensure that others play their role and deliver the high-quality support that is needed. Specifically, escalate concerns to the placing authority when children are not offered the opportunity to speak to an independent person about going missing from home. (‘Guide to the children’s home’s regulations, including quality standards’, page 11, paragraph 2.4)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should make best use of information from internal monitoring to ensure continuous improvement. They should be skilled in reviewing incidents, such as learning from practice. They are responsible for protectively implementing lessons learnt and sustaining good practice. (‘Guide to the children’s home’s regulations, including quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)

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Recommendations

 The registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. Specifically in relation to agency staff working at the home. (Guide to the children's homes regulations including quality standards', page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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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: SC398377 9

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Hillcrest Children's Services (2) Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Atria, Spa Road, Bolton BL1 4AG

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Inspector

Helen Malanaphy, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC398377 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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