Children's Home run by Blue Mountain Homes Ltd in Doncaster

Inspection report children’s home: 1264438 1 Registered provider: Blue Mountain Homes 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 and managed by a private provider. It provides care and accommodation for up to four children who may have emotional and/or social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered in August 2020.

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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 3 February 2021 to carry out a monitoring visit. The 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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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 10 December 2019

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1264438 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/12/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 22/10/2019 Full Inadequate 07/03/2019 Interim Improved effectiveness 21/08/2018 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1264438 3

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inadequate

Some children experience poor and unsafe living conditions. There is a significant amount of repair work required in the communal areas of the home. The manager has a suitable action plan to address this shortfall. However, some children’s bedrooms are unkempt and hazardous. There are issues that pose serious health and safety risks to children, which the manager has failed to identify or address. Staff do not take responsibility for the condition of children’s bedrooms, therefore failing to support children to feel valued.

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inadequate

The manager assesses the suitability of admissions into the home. However, he admits children despite identifying risks to children that cannot be managed, because the home does not have relevant long-term or sustainable mitigating measures in place. This has contributed to children experiencing an unsettled period. One child said, ‘I am not happy here.’

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inadequate

Children’s care planning documents contain conflicting information. Staff demonstrated that they are not always familiar with the content of care plans and children sometimes experience inconsistent care.

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inadequate

Staff encourage children to attend routine health appointments and to access specialist health services when required. Staff help children to establish healthy routines, including the use of sensory lighting to help support a regular sleep pattern.

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inadequate

Not all children have educational placements. The manager works collaboratively with relevant professionals, escalating concerns so that children’s educational needs can be understood. Some children are helped by staff to make educational progress through a programme of in-house training. One child has developed aspirations to attend an educational setting, and has an education placement secured. This is clear progress from their starting point.

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

Children are exposed to the risk of harm because leaders have failed to ensure that there are effective strategies in place to manage known risks to children. There is no effective system for recording the checks that staff are required to complete to help to keep one child safe. This demonstrates that risks are not sufficiently monitored.

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

Children’s risk assessments do not always include guidance for staff to follow to help them understand how they can help to keep children safe. This exposes children to the potential risk of harm. Inspection report children’s home: 1264438 4 Staff keep some bathroom facilities locked, which denies children the ability to freely access these areas of the home. While each child has their own private bathroom, this segregation creates an institutional atmosphere for children, which fails to support their well-being.

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

Staff do not have sufficient training to help them to understand what they should do in the event of a fire breaking out in the home. Training records do not always include the type and level of training offered, or indicate when an update to the training is required. This limits the ability to track and monitor training.

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

Not all serious incidents have been notified to Ofsted. This means that Ofsted is unable to scrutinise information to ensure that children are safe. This leaves children vulnerable to the risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has failed to rectify shortfalls in the quality of care provided, and has not understood the impact that these shortfalls have on children’s experience and progress. The manager has not implemented a suitable action plan to address all the shortfalls raised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff supervision takes place regularly, but the concerns that staff raise are not always followed up. There is little focus on the individual needs of children in the home. Furthermore, no staff have been appraised. These shortfalls demonstrate that there are insufficient actions in place to raise the standard of care that children receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager does not ensure that safer recruitment processes are followed when staff are appointed. For example, references are not always verified. This means that the adults working with children are not always suitably vetted. This exposes children to a potential risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has failed to implement effective monitoring systems to ensure that children’s risk assessments contain the necessary actions that staff must take to promote the safety of the children. This failing exposes children to a potential risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

This inspection resulted in three compliance notices being issued under regulations 12, 13 and 32 to address serious concerns relating to: poor, unsafe care; widespread failings in the leadership and management of the home; and shortfalls in the recruitment process. Seven requirements have been issued to address other shortfalls raised. Inspection report children’s home: 1264438 5

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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)) 7 November 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;

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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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; 7 November 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 1264438 6 take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare;

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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 to protect each child effectively from harm;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(vi)(b)(d))

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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;

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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;

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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)(a)(b)(c)(f)(h)) 7 November 2021

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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 7 November 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 1264438 7 have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c))

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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.

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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

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to suitably matching placements. 7 November 2021

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Requirement Due date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected;

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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 limitation 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;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)) 7 November 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 1264438 8 After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

make arrangements for persons working at the home to receive suitable training in fire prevention. (Regulation 25 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 7 November 2021

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Requirement Due date

*The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

(d) full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (3)(d)) 7 November 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This includes the registered manager. 7 November 2021

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to,

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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 an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child—

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or 7 November 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 1264438 9 there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e))

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce-related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home, and used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff – including the home’s manager. (‘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: 1264438 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Blue Mountain Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 17 Leeland Mansions, Leeland Road, London W13 9HE

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Pradeep Manaktala

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Inspector

Paula Kelly, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1264438 11 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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