Children's home run by Compass Children’s Homes Northeast Limited in North Tyneside

Inspection report for children’s home: SC403472 1 SC403472 Registered provider: Artemis Support Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by a private provider. The home can care for up to three children with social and/or emotional difficulties and/or learning disabilities.

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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: 1 December 2021

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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: SC403472 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/12/2021 Full Good 11/02/2020 Interim Improved effectiveness 30/04/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 05/03/2019 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC403472 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children said that they are happy living in this home. They are relaxed and settled. Staff know and support the children well and, as a result, children make good progress with their confidence and they develop their independence skills. One social worker commented that they would have every child who needs to be cared for in a children’s home living in this home if they could. Another social worker commented that they could not praise one particular member of staff enough, as they know their child ‘inside and out’. Children make good progress with their education and their attendance is good. Staff prepare the children well for their day ahead, which has a positive impact on the children’s ability to learn. The manager and staff are proactive in identifying and supporting the children to attend further education and they have high aspirations for the children to achieve. Staff frequently said that they focus on the children

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

having ‘ability’ rather than a ‘disability’. Staff understand the importance of children being able to maintain relationships with those who are significant to them. Staff develop good relationships with the children’s family members and advocate strongly for the children to maintain relationships with them. The staff’s knowledge of these adults means that staff can make safe decisions about who the children spend their time with, and that they can support the children with this. This is managed so well that one local authority entrusts the manager and staff to be solely responsible for making these arrangements. Special moments that children enjoy in the home and in the community are captured in photos, which are then put into memory books. However, some of the language used in these books to describe these memories may not be easy for the children to understand. This may prevent the children from accessing important information

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

that is intended to help them remember their time in the home. The children take pride in personalising their bedrooms, and the home is decorated and furnished to a good standard. Damage to the home is repaired quickly. However, the home does not have on display any photos of the children and staff, which would contribute to its homely feel. Children are supported to use the sensory room to stimulate their development and to manage their feelings in a calm way. However, this resource is not used to its full capacity as the projector is broken and there are a limited number of sensory toys available for the children to use. This restricts the children from making full use of this room when they are feeling distressed. The kitchen was seen to be routinely locked during the inspection. This prevents the children from accessing drinks and food without first asking permission from the staff to unlock the door. It may also restrict the children’s progress with their self-

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Inspection report for children’s home: SC403472 4 care skills. During the inspection, this practice was reviewed and the kitchen is no longer routinely locked.

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

The manager and staff use a therapeutic approach to help the children to manage their feelings and behaviour. They are pivotal in identifying specialist provisions to meet the needs of the children. The staff implement the advice given to them by therapeutic professionals, which means that they can support the children well when other children are feeling distressed. This helps the children to feel safe, and contributes to them feeling settled. Children’s competing risks and needs are managed well. Before a child moves into the home, the manager conducts a thorough assessment to ensure that the staff can meet the needs of the child. They also consider whether the home environment is safe for the child, and any other factors which may pose a risk to children already living in the home. When situations arise requiring a child to move on, these moves are managed well and in a planned way. This contributes towards the children

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

feeling settled and well cared for. Children living in the home have complex health needs, which the staff understand and manage well. Staff support the children to attend routine medical appointments and access medical care in emergencies. One medical professional said, ‘The staff were so helpful and they care deeply for the people they look after.’ However, there have been two medication errors. The manager has provided the staff with additional training on the home’s policies and procedures on the administration of medication, to reduce the likelihood of reoccurrence of errors. Children’s risk assessments are kept up to date, and they are reviewed regularly. The staff have a good understanding of the risks associated with each child, and they know how to help each child to stay safe. This has resulted in a reduction in the number of incidents involving children. However, the restrictions on the children’s ability to move freely about the home have not been reviewed effectively,

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

and this practice has not been formally recorded as a restriction of movement. Children do not go missing from home. However, there is a clear risk assessment in place for each child in the event that this situation arises. All children have a safety plan in place that considers whether they need to be held to keep them safe or to protect others. Restraining children is rarely necessary, as the staff manage the children’s behaviour through a therapeutic and relationship- based approach. However, when restraint is used, the manager does not always review the records of restraint within the necessary timescale, and there are some inconsistencies in the staff’s recordings.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is run by a dedicated and experienced manager who has high aspirations to support the children into adulthood. The manager has a visible presence in the home and, as a result, knows the children well. The manager leads by example and Inspection report for children’s home: SC403472 5 her passion is mirrored by the staff, who are committed and enthusiastic. Staff said that they feel valued and listened to, and that their manager is a ‘strong leader’. Staff describe her as ‘inspirational’. Their passion and dedication to the children are testimony to the manager’s leadership style. The manager responds well to the changing needs of the children and increases staffing levels accordingly, to help keep the children safe. When the manager uses agency and sessional staff, she ensures consistency of care by using the same staff members. The manager holds regular meetings for the staff, which ensures that they are

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

updated on the emerging needs of the children, and any changes to a child’s care arrangements. This also provides an opportunity for the staff to voice their views. The manager arranges guest speakers to attend these meetings, such as members of the therapeutic team. This support develops the staff’s practice and ensures that they have a better understanding of how to best meet the children’s needs. Staff are supported well to fulfil their roles. They complete the provider’s mandatory training and receive regular, good-quality supervision. When children’s needs change or new risks emerge, training is identified and offered to support the staff in providing the best level of care possible to the children. Staff supervision is reflective, and considers the needs of the children, areas for staff development, training needs and staff welfare. When practice falls short of the standards expected by the manager, she addresses this appropriately. However, this

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

is not always recorded in a timely manner. This prevents the staff from approving the record as an accurate reflection of the discussion. The children’s records reflect their needs well. However, some of the documents are not fully completed, and some documents are not consistently signed or dated by the person making the entry. In addition, the manager’s monitoring and review processes have failed to recognise whether the identified tasks are completed, or ensure that they are. This may mean the children’s case files do not accurately reflect the children’s current circumstances. The manager has already identified that this area needs to be more robust and is reviewing these processes. The written language used across the case file records is inconsistent, with some words being suggestive and others stigmatising. This does not accurately reflect the language used by the staff when talking about the children. The manager has

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

identified the need to address staff’s practice in case-recording and a team development day on this theme has been arranged. Inspection report for children’s home: SC403472 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)(a)(b) (2)(h)) 12 September

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Requirement Due date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected;

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iv)) 26 August 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— 12 September Inspection report for children’s home: SC403472 7 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

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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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

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c)(iv))

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Recommendations

 The registered provider should ensure that the home is a homely and domestic environment. In particular, ensure that the children are able to make full use of the sensory room and that photos that have been identified to decorate the home Inspection report for children’s home: SC403472 8 are on display. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered manager should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that restrictions of liberty of movement are recorded as restraint. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 47, paragraph 9.2)  The registered manager should ensure that a record of supervision is kept for staff, including the manager. The record should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation 33(4)(b). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)

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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: SC403472 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Artemis Support Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 17 Queens Lane, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE1 1RN

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Inspectors

Julia Hagan, Social Care Inspector Ruth Jackson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC403472 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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