Children's Home run by Hillcrest Children’s Services Ltd in West Berkshire

Inspection report for children's home: 2483715 1 Registered provider: Hillcrest Children’s Services Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is run by a privately owned organisation that operates a number of other homes around the country. The home provides care, assessment and treatment for up to five children who present challenging behaviour due to their early traumatic life experiences. It is set in a rural village location. All the children currently attend the organisation’s school, located five miles away.

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Information about this children’s home

There has been no registered manager since April 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2483715 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/10/2019 Full Good 12/11/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2483715 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who live in this home make significant progress. They are able to keep themselves safe, find interest in their learning and reduce harmful behaviours. This progress has been promoted by the multi-agency working between staff, school and the clinical team.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have settled well in this home and pleasantly welcome new people. When peers move in, children are very involved in getting gifts and banners to welcome them to their home. They quickly form positive relationships and this helps new children to settle in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children, parents and professionals recognise the high-quality care provided by staff. The staff skilfully promote the overall development of children and give them the drive to achieve their individual goals. One social worker said, ‘I am so pleased that he (the child) can talk now, as he could not talk when he first moved to the home.’ A parent seconded this when he shared the pleasure of his son making a speech at a family wedding.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to share their views, wishes and feelings. They take the lead in planning and chairing their house meetings. Adults in the home respond to the ‘you said, we did’ process where they act on fulfilling children’s requests. This assures children that they are listened to and their views are acknowledged.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend a wide range of creative and innovative activities that are carefully planned. They attend local clubs where they enjoy meeting peers from different communities. Children also spend time at home where they have fun playing football and other indoor games with staff. These occasions mean that children have valuable opportunities to share important memories with peers and adults.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is exceptionally clean and well decorated with features chosen by the children. The decoration of the home is not only child-centred but also illustrates the journey that the children and staff have experienced, creating a friendly and welcoming environment through art. The children’s bedrooms are decorated with personalised art and craft effects of their choice. However, there is one child’s bedroom that has a smell of urine and this takes away the homely and nurturing feel of the home.

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

The children are kept safe by careful planning and by staff making them aware of risks and how to reduce them. Staff ensure that each child is kept safe in relation to their individual needs. For example, staff are aware that, regardless of age, children have different levels of danger awareness. Therefore, formal risk assessments are Inspection report for children's home: 2483715 4 clear and reflect how individual children should be kept safe. These are routinely updated by staff but lack regular oversight by the manager.

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

Most of the children do not go missing from the home. There have been incidents where children have left without permission, but staff have followed and brought them back home safely. There are clear protocols to follow when children go missing; staff are aware of these and they work collaboratively with other agencies to search and bring children home safely.

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

Staff have good knowledge and understanding of safeguarding and know who to contact when they have concerns. Any concerns are taken seriously and thoroughly investigated. Shortfalls are addressed, lessons are learned and risks are reduced or eliminated. Leaders and managers have an effective working relationship with the designated officer in the local authority and work well in partnership to address any safeguarding concerns.

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

Staff seldom use physical restraints. When these occur, they are mainly in a form of friendly guides to move children to safer areas of the home and provide them with calming and reflective space. Reflective discussions are then held with the children. This has improved children’s behaviour and supported them to make informed decisions. The children are, therefore, able to regulate their emotions, which has resulted in fewer behaviour incidents.

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

Staff are safely recruited. However, due to the electronic system used, staff recruitment files are not readily accessible to the manager to ensure that all required checks are in place.

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

The home environment is kept safe, and children share the responsibility of completing health and safety checks with staff. This empowers and gives children knowledge of maintaining a safe environment.

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

Children receive medications as prescribed. However, staff do not always follow agreed procedures to provide signatures to confirm when medication has been given and received.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager leads with confidence and enthusiasm. She is supported by the responsible individual and experienced team managers, and she enjoys the support and trust of her staff team. The manager promotes a clear child-centred ethos and ensures that high standards of care are maintained. This helps children to make good progress and have a positive experience of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Even though staff absence was noticeable during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, staffing in the home remained stable. This was due to leaders and managers stepping in and working alongside available staff to support children. This provided consistency and ensured that children were cared for by adults who they had established positive relationships with. Inspection report for children's home: 2483715 5 Staff receive regular, effective supervisions and have their practice appraised annually. Staff continue to be supported to develop their knowledge and understanding of the home’s parenting model of practice. Staff complete a wide range of training to enable them to care and support children effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and staff have developed positive relationships with families and outside agencies. Managers and staff have good open and regular communication with professionals and families. They challenge any decisions or actions that are not in the best interest of the child. Strong advocacy and the active contribution of managers and staff to the professional network ensure that everyone shares a joint understanding of how children’s care needs are to be met. Inspection report for children's home: 2483715 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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1) (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure managers monitor and review children’s individual risk assessments. 23/12/2021

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children's home is a homely and domestic environment. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations; however, in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than institutional impression (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that medicines are administered in line with a medically approved protocol. Records must be kept of the administration of all medication, which includes occasions when prescribed medication is refused. Regulation 23 requires the registered person to ensure that they make suitable arrangements to manage, administer and dispose of any medication. These are fundamentally the same sorts of arrangements as a good parent would make but are subject to additional safeguards. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations,

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Recommendations

including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.15)  The registered person should ensure that some records are kept electronically (regulation 38) provided that this information can be easily accessed by anyone with a legitimate need to view it and, if required, be reproduced in a legible form. Inspection report for children's home: 2483715 7 Electronic records should be held at the individual home in accordance with data protection principles. IT systems should ensure the safe storage of these records, and business continuity planning should be in place to prevent loss or damage to them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 14.2)

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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 for children's home: 2483715 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hillcrest Children’s Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspector

Alphie Khumalo, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2483715 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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