Children's home run by Partnerships in Care 1 Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 1247390 1 Registered provider: Partnerships in Care 1 Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered with both Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission. The home provides care for up to eight children with emotional health needs and who self-harm.

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Information about this children’s home

This specialist service is part of a large national private organisation. The organisation has its own clinical team.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in February 2022.

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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: 30 November 2021

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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 for children’s home: 1247390 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/11/2021 Interim Improved effectiveness 15/07/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 28/10/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 23/07/2019 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: 1247390 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from longevity of placement. The processes for moving into and out of the home are well planned and tailored to meet the children’s individual needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s personal interests and hobbies are promoted. Children are encouraged and consulted in their choice of activities. The activities children engage in at home and in the community have helped them to develop confidence and social skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are well supported by staff to form and sustain relationships with family and friends. The registered manager and staff team recognise how important it is for the children to have regular contact with the significant people in their life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are provided with wholesome and nutritious meals. Children are asked for their personal preferences regularly and help the cook to plan the menu for the weeks ahead. Children said that they enjoy cooking and have learned to cook new dishes since living here.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager has confidently and assertively challenged placing authorities when they have not provided the home with essential information, such as up-to-date care plans. Care plans created in-house are informative but not easy to read. Despite being extensive, these plans do not provide information that sets out clearly the children’s daily routines and needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Further work to attain good educational outcomes for children is required. The registered manager agreed to escalate her concerns.

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

Children said that they feel safe and have confidence that the adults who care for them will keep them safe. The positive relationships that have developed between children and staff have helped children to feel safe. The staff manage risk well, and their understanding of the children has helped them to recognise when children need support.

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

There have been three reported safeguarding concerns since the last inspection. The registered manager works effectively with a range of safeguarding agencies in response. Records are well maintained and confirm that the registered manager follows safeguarding procedures.

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

Since the last inspection, incidents requiring staff to use physical intervention to manage behaviour have reduced in number. Interventions are used as a last resort and only to keep the children safe. Records of discussions after the incidents do not detail how the child felt about being held, or whether the staff have reflected on Inspection report for children’s home: 1247390 4 their actions, or considered what they could have done differently to prevent the intervention happening.

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

Medication audits are effective. Since the last inspection, there have been two reported medication errors. Appropriate and swift action was taken and, as a result, the children’s health and well-being were not affected.

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

The registered manager has considered and assessed the potential risks in the local area that could affect children’s safety and well-being. However, the registered manager has not considered providing staff with essential information that includes the contact details and potential response times of emergency services in the event of a medical emergency.

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

Children are looked after by adults who leaders and managers have assessed as safe people. Recruitment records are generally well maintained. However, in one member of staff’s recruitment file, the registered manager had not scrutinised or verified missing information, such as dates of employment and referees’ full contact details.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager leads by example. Her child-focused approach and determination to keep children safe and feel loved are shared by her team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A strength of this home is the ability of the registered manager and her team to quickly form effective relationships with children. As a result, children feel safe, are understood and well cared for. Children actively seek attention and time from staff, which has contributed to children making steady progress and a reduction in the number of incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children are looked after by adults who have the skills and experience to meet the needs of the children they care for. Staff attend refresher training and are compliant with basic mandatory training. Specialist training courses have been restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the registered manager is working closely with the organisation’s training department to secure dates for a range of courses for staff to attend. This will refresh their knowledge and keep them up to date with current practices.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All staff are provided with regular formal and clinical supervisions. Team meetings take place regularly and are well attended. Despite this good practice, records of these meetings vary in quality. They do not always reflect the discussions held, consider patterns and trends, or detail the actions agreed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has a workforce development plan and a site development plan. The registered manager has yet to formalise her vision to develop the home and the services provided to children, to broaden their opportunities and experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monitoring is, in the main, effective. Agreed actions for improvement are acknowledged and responded to. Further work is required to ensure that governance Inspection report for children’s home: 1247390 5 monitoring considers and evaluates the independent person’s findings and managers’ monitoring.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Feedback from staff, parents, a social worker and an independent reviewing officer is unanimously positive. Collectively, they appreciate and value the leadership of the home. Parents said that this is the best placement their child has been in. A social worker said that she does not have any concerns about the home’s safeguarding practices or the quality of care provided. She is reassured that, in her view, children are getting the best quality of care in a relaxed environment. The independent reviewing officer said, ‘The staff are responsive to the children’s needs. They set and maintain appropriate boundaries, which has helped children progress.’ Inspection report for children’s home: 1247390 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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome such barriers; and

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment opportunities. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(iv)) 18 June 2022

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Requirement Due date

the care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that arrangements are in place to— ensure the effective induction of each child into the home; manage and review the placement of each child in the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(b)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to simplifying internal care plans to make them easier to read. 18 June 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that debriefs for children and staff following incidents consistently include opportunities for them to talk about how they felt Inspection report for children’s home: 1247390 7 during the incident and explore what support is needed. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 50, paragraph 9.60)  The registered person should ensure that best use of information from independent and internal monitoring is made, to ensure continuous improvement. The responsible person should be skilled in anticipating difficulties and reviewing incidents. The responsible person is responsible for proactively implementing lessons learned and sustaining good practice. This particularly refers to ensuring governance monitoring and oversight is effective. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)

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Recommendations

 The registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that employees’ employment histories include the start and end date of employment and that the employee provides full contact details of all referees. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)  The registered person should ensure that a record of supervision provides evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation. In particular, ensure that formal supervisions and team meetings provide staff members with the opportunity to reflect on their practice individually and as a team. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)  The registered person should review the location of the premises and ensure that all risks in the local area are properly considered and that strategies for managing

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Recommendations

them are documented. This particularly refers to ensuring that the contact details of all emergency services are identified, along with their response times in the event of an emergency. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)

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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: 1247390 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Partnerships in Care 1 Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Fifth Floor, 80 Hammersmith Road, London W14 8UD

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Inspectors

Sharron Escott, Social Care Inspector Janet Jauregui, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1247390 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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