Children's Home run by Pathway Care Solutions Ltd in Cornwall

Inspection report children's home: 1277045 1 Registered provider: Outcomes First Group Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care for up to four children who experience behavioural and/or emotional difficulties. It is part of a larger organisation.

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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 October 2020 to carry out a 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 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: 7 November 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 1277045 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/11/2019 Interim Improved effectiveness 11/06/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 05/03/2019 Full Inadequate Inspection report children's home: 1277045 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have created a bright and welcoming home for the children who live here. The children are confident to make full use of the home to play with toys and games. Staff help the children to take part in activities, plan holidays and celebrate events. For example, staff organised a birthday party for one child and her family. Staff and children create beautifully bound memory books of their activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff make sure that the children’s experience of moving into the home is positive. Staff help the children to make choices about living in this home and their views are listened to. Managers have created a respectful environment for children and staff where everyone feels valued. For example, staff nurture and care for the children and avoid any technical language in front of them. One child is able to reflect that staff have created a safe space for her while she is also able to see her family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All the children attend school or college and are making some progress. There is good communication between the school and staff. Staff provide effective routines for the children and build therapeutic support into their timetables to meet their complex needs. Staff help the children to form positive relationships with each other and with the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the children to achieve their goals and to become more self-sufficient. One child is gaining experience in budgeting and regularly cooks for everyone in the home. Staff are flexible and sensitive in their approach to enabling children to develop at their own pace. For example, staff have supported one child to find a local job but continue to regularly monitor the child’s health and wellbeing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff continue to develop good working relationships with other professionals to meet the children’s needs. One professional who contributed to the inspection stated that this could be improved on some occasions. Staff actively support the children to keep in touch with their families and other people who are important to them.

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

Children feel safe and know who to talk to if they are worried. Staff understand the risks associated with the children’s traumatic childhood experiences. Their support for one child has considerably reduced the risk to the child’s health and wellbeing.

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

Staff provide a safe and supportive environment for children who are at risk of harm. They adopt a therapeutic approach with children who make disclosures of abuse to ensure that identified risks are managed and reduced. Staff have professional discussions with other agencies to create a common approach and understanding to a child protection concern in order to improve outcomes for children. Inspection report children's home: 1277045 4 The arrangements in place in respect of safer recruitment are good. Reference checks are completed. Staff confirm that they do not start work until all their checks are completed.

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

At times, staff have tried strategies to manage risks to the children which are inconsistent with the home’s ethos. External professionals shared concerns about this with the inspector. Managers have learned lessons from these incidents and support staff to adapt their practice as new risks appear. For example, managers have updated the missing protocol for one child who loves to visit train stations. Staff now offer to go on train journeys with the child. This approach has reduced recent incidents involving the child.

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

The manager and staff carefully consider when it is necessary to use restraint to prevent a child from physically injuring staff. Overall, restraint is rarely used. Usually, staff use a low-level hold of a child for the shortest time to make a situation safe. On two occasions, the manager could have asked further questions to decide whether a restraint of a child was reasonable. This was followed up by the responsible individual during the inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is experienced and highly regarded by staff and other professionals. She has created a nurturing, happy home where children are loved, and staff are valued.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager monitors the children’s care plans effectively. She speaks to other professionals and staff to ensure a positive and appropriate response to the children’s changing behaviour and emerging needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is some inconsistency in practice. Not all staff record and escalate incidents well, for example, what constitutes a notification of a serious incident. However, the manager and staff do respond to the incidents appropriately and recognise when the home is no longer able to meet a child’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel supported by the managers and each other. The responsible individual provides the manager with support and direction. Staff have regular opportunities to reflect on their practice in supervision and team meetings.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers identify through learning and reflection, the need to support staff to undertake training. However, not all staff have competed some of the mandatory and specialist training required for their roles. It has taken too long to source specialist training for staff but this is now booked. In addition, during the inspection, leaders and managers reviewed the training matrix to ensure that staff receive training they require to support them to undertake their roles effectively and with confidence. Inspection report children's home: 1277045 5 Leaders and managers have challenged the organisation about the unnecessary restrictions on windows which are not required to meet the children’s needs. No changes have yet been made. Inspection report children's home: 1277045 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 positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff—

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Requirement Due date

meet each child's behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child's relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child's behaviour, in accordance with the child's age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child's behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child's age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same; and

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Requirement Due date

de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour 19 November Inspection report children's home: 1277045 7 (Regulation 11(1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(x)(xi))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that behaviour management approaches and the use of restraint are used only in line with the home’s ethos and children’s individual plans.

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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 promotes their welfare.

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff receive training they require to support them to undertake their roles effectively and with confidence. 19 November

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they are skilled at anticipating difficulties and reviewing incidents, such as considering the rationale for making or not making a notification of a serious incident. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 55 paragraph 10.24)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a homely, domestic environment. In particular, review the use of window restrictors. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 15 paragraph 3.10)

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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) Inspection report children's home: 1277045 8 Regulations 2015 and the 'Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards'. Inspection report children's home: 1277045 9

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Outcomes First Group Limited

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Children's home details

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

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Inspectors

Justine Hosking, Social Care Inspector Paula Lahey, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 1277045 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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