Children's home run by First Blue Healthcare Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 2515613 1 Registered provider: First Blue Healthcare Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is operated by a private company. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for two children who have had adverse childhood experiences.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a new manager in post in the home, who took up position in April 2021. The manager is undertaking 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: 21 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: 2515613 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/11/2019 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 2515613 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children have moved into the home and two children have left the home since the last inspection. Staff supported the children to make positive transitions out of the home. One child moved into semi-independent accommodation. The other child was supported to move into a home closer to their home local authority.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children’s care plans provide a detailed account of their needs and any required interventions

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have clear health plans and are registered with the relevant primary healthcare services. Children have access to specialist and therapeutic input provided by the organisation. There are good links with specialised services, such as mental health services. This means that children receive specialist input that is tailored to meet their individual needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff help children to improve their education outcomes. Children who have not previously been in education improve their attendance. For example, one child who had not been in education for some time has recently finished school and has attained five qualifications. This means that children are making progress in developing their confidence and in achieving their education targets.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to keep in touch with their families. As a result, children continue to enjoy relationships with the people who are important to them. Children are fully involved in day-to-day decisions. Children have regular one-to-one discussions and daily communication with staff. These help to ensure that children have ownership of decisions made in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager ensures that the home is, generally, kept to a good standard. However, the flooring in the lounge area is showing signs of wear and tear. This does not ensure that the children’s home is a homely environment.

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

Risk assessments are used as working documents by staff, who understand children’s known risks and vulnerabilities. In most instances, risk assessments include good detail. However, not all the risk assessments give staff a full picture of the risks because they are incorrectly scored. This means that the staff could miss important information needed to safeguard children.

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

The positive relationships that the children have with the staff members means that the need for physical intervention is relatively infrequent. Incidents that require physical intervention are monitored and are evaluated effectively by the manager. Inspection report children’s home: 2515613 4 Debriefs routinely take place with children and staff to provide opportunities to explore each incident and to learn from these experiences.

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

The managers response to missing-from-care episodes has not always been effective. For example, one child left the home during the night without staff’s knowledge. Following this incident, the manager has ensured that there is a member of staff completing waking night shifts to minimise the risk of further incidents.

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

The manager has discussed the use of a bedroom door alarm to alert staff to children going missing. Potentially, this is a useful safeguarding measure which supplements existing strategies in place to safeguard the child, such as the waking night member of staff. However, no bedroom door alarm is currently in use. This means that although managers identify protective measures, they do not always implement them.

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

The manager ensures that there are established systems in place to maintain safe practices and to fulfil health and safety obligations. All staff working at the home have received fire safety training to enable them to minimise the risks to children in the event of a fire at the home. Staff are trained in fire safety procedures and they ensure that children take part in fire evacuation drills, so they understand how to leave the home safely in an emergency.

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

When appointing staff, the manager follows safer recruitment practice guidelines. This means that only those deemed suitable to work with vulnerable individuals look after children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has been in post since April 2021, and he demonstrates a strong commitment to driving forward improvements in the home. He gives staff clear and firm leadership, and he challenges them and other professionals. Consequently, staff and children feel safe, supported and happy.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager uses staff meetings and supervision well to communicate the positive ethos of the home. Staff report that they find supervision helpful and supportive. Annual appraisals are used well to ensure that staff are provided with appropriate development opportunities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have good access to training opportunities to ensure that they have the knowledge and the skills they need for their work with children. All staff are qualified or are working to gain a relevant qualification for their role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager does not always complete a full assessment of the needs of the children already living in the home when considering new referrals. Impact risk assessments do not always include the views of other professionals and the children already living at the home. This creates a missed opportunity to ensure that children living in the home are well matched. Inspection report children’s home: 2515613 5 The manager ensures that communication between agencies is prompt and is effective in ensuring that all parties are regularly updated on children’s progress. A placing social worker told the inspector, ‘Communication is good. The manager communicates with me on a weekly basis and gives me updates on how [name] has been doing.’ This means that children receive a multi-agency response to meet their specific needs. Inspection report children’s home: 2515613 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; and

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them 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

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

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the flooring in the lounge area of the home. 30 September

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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; and

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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)(i)(vi)) 30 September Inspection report children’s home: 2515613 7 This specifically relates to the need for managers to ensure that children’s risk assessments are up to date and reflect the accurate scoring. Furthermore, ensure that appropriate action is taken to reduce the risks of children going missing and placing themselves at harm. 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. (Regulation 14 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to impact risk assessments and including consultation with others as part of the assessment process. 30 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: 2515613 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: First Blue Healthcare Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Seighford Hall, Clanford Road, Seighford, Stafford ST18 9NL

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Inspector

Dave Carrigan, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2515613 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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