Children's home run by Hillcrest Children’s Services Ltd in Havant

Inspection report children’s home: SC482301 1 SC482301 Registered provider: Hillcrest Children’s Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home provides care for up to six children with social, emotional and mental health difficulties.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 27 October 2015.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC482301 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/08/2021 Full Good 03/03/2020 Full Good 05/12/2018 Full Good 07/11/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC482301 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from warm and supportive relationships with staff. In most cases, this has enabled children to make progress in key areas of their lives, including education, independence skills and health. Staff have faced some challenges in recent times with an increase in incidents of self-harm. This has taken a toll on the emotional well-being of staff and stability in the home. However, staff have remained completely focused on the needs of children and worked hard to provide continuity of care and positive experiences for children. A child, when talking about some challenges he faced, said, ‘The staff are perfect. They have really helped me.’

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff make use of comprehensive care plans to define goals for each child’s placement. They are able to identify key areas of progress for children. This year, they are proud to have two of their children completing their first year of college. They place a strong focus on developing independence skills for children as some of them reach the end of their time at the home.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Currently, staff face some challenges with supporting children with complex mental health issues. However, staff benefit from regular support from an attached clinical team and specialist intervention from their behaviour support coordinator. This helps them to identify well-informed strategies to support children and promote their well- being.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say that they feel listened to and that their views are important to staff. Staff have managed complaints well when they have arisen. Staff follow up with children to ensure that they are satisfied with the outcome of any complaints. Children contribute their ideas and are able to influence changes to the environment. For example, during the inspection, two children were working on plans for upgrading their rooms. Children were also enjoying additions to the games room, such as a new pool table.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have access to lots of activities both with peers at home and in the community. Children currently engage in local sports and leisure clubs. They also recently returned from a group holiday and spoke about this enthusiastically.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

As children approach moving on, staff take age-appropriate and positive steps to prepare them for their future independence. Children take part in cooking activities, budgeting and household chores, to build their understanding of the responsibilities that come with their transition to adulthood.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is well maintained, and any repairs or renovations are generally attended to promptly. However, one child, who has been experiencing some turbulence, has a room which is showing some signs of wear. This was raised by the inspector and the child was moved into a newly decorated and furnished room until his own room was up to standard. Inspection report children’s home: SC482301 4

p.3

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

Staff understand the risks and vulnerabilities of the children in their care. They create comprehensive risk assessments that address all relevant areas of concern. However, these documents are not presented in a way that makes the information in them easily accessible. There is also little evidence of children’s involvement in the creation of their own plans and strategies.

p.4

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

Staff have been experiencing an increase in incidents, particularly incidents involving self-harm. Training and support are available to enable them to manage these incidents, but the number of incidents is still high. Specialist behaviour support plans and increased oversight from senior managers which have recently been introduced are having a positive impact. Staff say that they appreciate the additional input.

p.4

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

Staff work well to support children who are vulnerable online. They have engaged specialist child and adolescent mental health services to provide direct support to children. They also develop safety plans and utilise one-to-one work with children to increase their understanding of the risks of the internet.

p.4

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

One child has had a series of incidents where they were missing from the home this year. Staff managed these well and tried their hardest to keep the child safe. However, it was decided at a multi-agency level that it was not possible to maintain the placement. The child returned to a family placement. Staff reflected on this carefully and produced a very good placement ending report which identified key areas of learning going forward.

p.4

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

Staff utilise the strength of their relationships with children to manage difficult behaviours. As a result, they generally keep the frequency and severity of incidents to a minimum. Restrictive intervention is used as an absolute last resort and physical holds are infrequent.

p.4

good

Leadership at the home is judged as requires improvement because of a set of circumstances which have caused the registered manager to be away from work and have led to reduced management capacity. This has meant that staff who are managing difficult situations have not had the supervision they need to support them. Not having a consistent manager has also meant that some important appointments for children have been missed due to gaps in the communication with social workers.

p.4

good

One social worker said that staffing changes have meant that they have found it hard to maintain a consistent point of contact. This had led to some messages getting lost, which has resulted in some missed appointments and meetings. The responsible individual has shown a strong commitment to resolving these issues and Inspection report children’s home: SC482301 5 has created a single point of contact through which all communications are filtered. This enables her to keep a clear oversight of the home’s operations at this time.

p.4

good

The registered manager has had an unavoidable period of absence. During this time, the deputy manager has worked tirelessly to provide continuity. However, senior leaders recognised that the home would benefit from a period of more intensive support. They were quick to address this and put measures in place to support the deputy manager and his team.

p.5

good

Staff are very open about the impact that the recent increase in incidents and challenges with recruitment have had on the team as whole. However, they praised the responsible individual and the deputy manager for the hard work they are putting in to provide the staff with the input and support required during more challenging times. One staff member said that they have missed supervision sessions due to staff absence. The deputy manager is keeping a supervision schedule up to date and addressing any gaps in staff supervision.

p.5

good

Despite recent challenges, leaders have maintained close oversight and monitoring of the home. Records demonstrate that managers review and feed back on all key reports, plans and documentation. Service audits by the deputy and responsible individual also identify strengths and weaknesses and feed into a home action plan. This plan is regularly reviewed and updated.

p.5

good

Leaders have a good awareness of current challenges faced by the home. Staff recruitment has been exceptionally challenging. However, the organisation continues to work hard to develop effective strategies to encourage new applications from suitable staff.

p.5

good

Leaders also provide an inclusive and supportive space for children to express their identity confidently and safely. There has been a particular focus this year on gender and identity. Staff completed bespoke training from external transgender specialists. They have supported children to engage in LGBTQ+ support groups in the community. They also work closely with children as a group and individually to promote their awareness and acceptance of individual life choices. Inspection report children’s home: SC482301 6

p.5

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.

p.6

Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

p.6

Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5 (d)) 30 September

p.6

Requirement Due date

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

p.6

Requirement Due date

understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children;

p.6

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. (Regulation 11 (2)(a)(ix)(x)) 30 September

p.6

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of the children. Children’s homes will, in most cases, be homely and domestic environments. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that children are encouraged by staff to see the home’s records as ‘living documents’ and be supported to view and contribute to the record in a way that reflects their voice on a regular basis. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.19) Inspection report children’s home: SC482301 7

p.6

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: SC482301 8

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hillcrest Children’s Services Limited

p.8

Children’s home details

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

p.8

Inspector

Peter Jackson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC482301 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.

p.8

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.9

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.9

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.9