Children's Home run by Hexagon Care Services Limited in Leeds

Inspection report children’s home: 2604035 1 Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is a privately run children’s home. It provides care for up to three children with social and emotional difficulties.

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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

The home was registered with Ofsted in November 2020. It has not yet had a full inspection. We last visited this setting on 10 March 2021 to carry out an monitoring 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 requires improvement to be 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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 2604035 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not previously inspected Inspection report children’s home: 2604035 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Due to the instability in the staff team, the quality of their care that the children have received has been varied. However, the core group of staff have developed strong relationships with the children. As a result, the children are now making good progress and beginning to develop a sense of safety.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children’s health needs are well met. Staff support the children to attend routine health appointments. Children also take part in activities that support their physical health, such as swimming and going to the gym. Keeping active is enabling the children to burn off their energy in a positive way.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have specialist support in place. The clinical team offers the children weekly therapy sessions. The clinical team also provides advice to the staff to help them to care for the children. This helps the staff to be more responsive to the children’s emotional health needs. As a result, the children are able to communicate more effectively, have better daily routines and have improved their personal hygiene and appearance.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported with home tuition each week. Staff are effective in helping them to engage with their learning. They also help the children to take part in a variety of additional educational activities, such as going to museums. However, the prolonged delay in assessing the children’s educational needs has meant that children have not gone to school since arriving at the home. This disrupts children’s education and limits their future prospects.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have a voice and the staff support them to share their wishes and feelings during regular chats and during house meetings. Topics of discussion include food, activity choices and living together positively. Children are also supported to make important decisions for themselves, such as not taking part in religious routines. However, such important decisions have not been revisited to ensure that the child’s decision is in their best interest.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children can engage in a wide variety of activities. Staff know the children’s hobbies and interests and help the children to access activities such as going to the seaside, adventure parks, riding bicycles or simply staying at home playing on the games console. The staff ensure that the children have access to fun experiences, which helps develop the children’s self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have guinea pigs as pets, which are kept in the garden. As part of their daily routine, the children attend to the animals’ welfare needs. Staff are teaching the children the responsibility needed to care for their animals, which is helping the children to develop a sense of empathy. Inspection report children’s home: 2604035 4 The home is spacious and provides enough space for the children to live and relax. However, the decor in the home looks tired and there are signs of wear and tear throughout. Also, the area that leads to the children’s bedrooms is cold and uninviting. This does not enhance the children’s experience of living in the home.

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

High levels of staff supervision help to protect the children from harm. Staff have a developing awareness about the children’s emotional health needs as a result of the support that they receive from the clinical team. Children are experiencing more consistent care, which is helping them to feel safe. The provider’s child psychologist said: ‘Staff are now role-modelling the strategies we have discussed.’

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

Children do not go missing from this home. The level of supervision and responsiveness of the staff helps to reduce the potential risk of the children absconding. When the children do leave the home, the staff respond effectively to return them safely.

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

Reflective conversations occur that focus on the impact of negative behaviour. Staff help the children to think about the effect that their behaviour has on others. Incidents of the children hitting out fluctuates from week to week. However, children are improving their ability to use words to communicate, so incidents reduce.

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

Individualised risk assessments are in place for each child. The risk assessments are detailed and provide the staff with direction about how to keep the children safe. This helps to ensure that the staff have up-to-date strategies to follow and to reduce the risk of harm for the children.

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

The children enjoy structured daily plans. The emotional connection that the staff have with the children enables them to respond to the routines in place. This is helping the children to feel safe and make progress, such as taking part in activities and settling to bed at night.

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

Staff frequently use restraint in response to the children’s behavioural needs. Progress is being made to reduce the need for physical intervention. However, the need remains, as the staff continue to develop their effectiveness in de-escalating behaviour without the need to hold a child.

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

The quality of physical intervention records is variable. For example, it is not always clear how the threshold for a restraint has been reached, nor what the staff did to avoid holding a child, and it is not clear whether debriefs with the staff have occurred. This does not help the manager to understand if and why an intervention was required. Inspection report children’s home: 2604035 5

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good

The manager is creating a positive culture which is focused on improving the effectiveness of the team. However, there have been continued instabilities in the staff team over a considerable time. This has resulted in the children being cared for by several different staff members who do not have a shared understanding of how to meet the children’s needs. The manager has a plan in place to make the current staff group more sustainable.

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good

Staff receive regular supervision. However, the same level of support has not been provided for the agency staff members who regularly work in the home. The quality and frequency of this supervision are inconsistent. This does not support these members of staff to have the skills needed to care for the children.

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good

The manager does not have an effective monitoring system in place. This has resulted in some shortfalls in staff practice. For example, the quality of the children’s records is variable, and the debriefs with the staff after incidents occur are insufficient. Also, the manager does not have effective oversight of the restraint practice that is used by the staff. This could result in the children not having their needs met and unsafe restraint practice being used.

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good

The manager does not seek feedback from parents, social workers or other relevant professionals. This does not support the manager to improve the quality of care provided to the children.

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good

Children’s local authority care plans are not on the children’s files. This oversight means that the manager cannot be assured that she and her staff are delivering care in line with the local authority’s care plan. This could limit the progress that the children make.

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good

Safeguarding concerns are managed swiftly by the management team in consultation with the designated officer from the local authority. However, the regulator is not always notified when an incident has occurred. This limits the regulator’s oversight and could increase the risk of harm to children.

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good

Team meetings are taking place, but these have not been used effectively by the manager and staff to reflect and develop the strategies needed to respond to the children’s needs. However, improvements have now been made as staff attendance has increased and the children’s plans are now better understood by the team. Staff are now helping the children to make progress.

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good

The staff team is becoming more established. Staff feel supported in their roles and value their manager’s leadership. They are positive about the improvements the manager is trying to make. Inspection report children’s home: 2604035 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 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

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to 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

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and 24 October 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2604035 7 feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received.

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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)(d)(e)(f)(g)(i)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the staff, including agency staff, are supervised regularly in line with the home’s statement of purpose. 24 October 2021

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate. (Regulation 35 (3)(ii)(v)(vi)(viii)(b)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the record of a restraint makes it clear why the threshold for physical intervention was needed. Also, the registered person must ensure that the authorised person completes the 24 October 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2604035 8 debrief with the child and the staff member who has used the hold.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child, and ensure that these are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager must ensure that there are up-to-date care plans available for each child. 24 October 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there. (Regulation 40 (4)(c)) 24 October 2021

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is decorated in a way that enhances the living experience of the children. The home is in need of decorating throughout due to the signs of wear and tear. Also, the area which leads to the children’s bedrooms is cold and uninviting. The registered person should ensure that the first thing that children see when they leave their room is an inviting space. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that they seek feedback from family members, social workers and relevant others who can provide important feedback about the quality of care provided to the children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.23)

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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: 2604035 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 1 Tustin Court, Riversway, Preston, Lancashire PR2 2YQ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Thomas Cappleman

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Inspector

Aaron Mcloughlin, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2604035 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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