Children's Home run by Essandore Limited in St Helens

Inspection report for children’s home: SC066218 1 SC066218 Registered provider: Essandore Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A private company owns the home, which provides care for up to six children. The provider states in their statement of purpose that they provide care for children with learning difficulties and physical disabilities. There were five children living in the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since 2006.

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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: SC066218 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/07/2021 Full Good 13/02/2020 Full Outstanding 06/12/2018 Full Good 10/10/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC066218 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from well-planned introductions to the home and they are suitably matched, taking into consideration their individual needs. Children get to know the home through a series of visits and staff spend time with them to understand their likes, dislikes and routines. This ensures that children gain confidence in their new surroundings and build relationships with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, the home is well maintained. Children’s bedrooms are personalised in line with their individual needs and risk assessments. The dining room is the hub of the home, where children and staff sit to eat their evening meal. Furthermore, the home has a designated sensory area, which gives the children an additional place to support their emotional well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The inspector observed a warm and relaxed atmosphere, filled with laughter and fun. Staff demonstrate they have good knowledge and skills in supporting children with complex needs effectively. Staff engage children well, encouraging them to improve their fine motor skills in eating and drinking. As a result, children are learning important life skills and making progress in their independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are met. They are supported to attend routine health appointments as well as specialist services. The staff are suitably trained to support children with complex health needs and recently have been working collaboratively with health practitioners around stoma care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to enjoy a range of activities, that are captured in photos and life-story books. The children have opportunities to visit the local safari park, spend time in the garden with messy play and go on trips to indoor play areas with inflatables. Recently, the children have experienced an adventure holiday together. This means they are having fun and building a sense of belonging with one another.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff communicate with children using a variety of communication tools. For example, staff are trained in Makaton and make good use of signs and gestures. This enables children to make choices in things they would like to eat and activities they wish to take part in. This is enhancing children’s understanding and helping them to make their wishes and feelings known.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Feedback from professionals is positive. They say there is good communication in the home. A parent said the home was amazing and staff have kept her totally involved since her child moved in. She said, ‘They made the hardest job one of the easiest for me and I am grateful for their support.’

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

Staff have a clear understanding of children’s vulnerabilities and the potential risks Inspection report for children’s home: SC066218 4 they may be exposed to. Staff understand how to report and respond to any safeguarding concerns. However, not all risk management plans are signed and dated by the author and the staff working with the children.

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

Robust recruitment procedures are not in place. Some records of recruitment do not demonstrate that staff have a full employment history in place and where there are gaps in their employment the manager has not taken sufficient action to explore these gaps. This means that potentially unsuitable adults could be employed at the home, which would place children at risk of harm.

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

There is safe storage for all medications, including controlled drugs, and robust procedures are followed. This ensures that children have the appropriate and correct medication that they need to maintain their emotional and physical well-being.

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

Children benefit from being supported by a skilled staff team. Recently, staff have been supported by a positive behaviour team to understand a child’s behaviour. As a result of detailed behaviour support plans, staff are attuned to the children’s needs and make good use of individualised de-escalation strategies to support children when they are distressed. As a result, restraints are not necessary, and children are making good progress in managing their emotions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is run effectively by a permanent, suitably qualified manager. He is supported by a competent deputy. Both have been at the home for several years. Staff say there is an open-door policy and managers are supportive. The manager is passionate and driven to provide good-quality care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Some children’s records are written in a child-centred way. However, records are not consistently completed to a good standard. Some plans do not contain the author’s name and date, and are not signed by all staff. It is not always clear when records have been written or who the author is. This is not helpful to the child in understanding their time in the home. This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers ensure that there are suitable levels of staffing in the home. However, managers do not keep staff rotas in accordance with regulation. For example, the working hours of the registered manager and deputy are not shown on the roster. This means there is no clear record of who was working in the home at any given time.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is effective partnership working with a range of professionals, in particular the positive behaviour support teams, community nurses and occupational therapists. They provide advice and guidance to staff to ensure that they support children in all aspects of their health and dietary needs. Furthermore, there are individualised plans to help staff meet the children’s complex needs. However, it is not always clear on some plans how children are assessed to use specialist equipment for feeding or the use of a safe space bed. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066218 5 The manager and staff are not aware of the local offer, which sets out the support available for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. This is a missed opportunity to access additional resources for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are well supported to develop their professional practice and skills. They have regular good-quality supervision and attend informative team meetings. There is a clear induction programme in place where staff work shadow shifts to learn about the children. There is a suitable annual appraisal system which allows staff to focus on their development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager makes good use of his external and internal monitoring systems. He has good awareness of the strengths of the home and the areas to develop and maintains good oversight of staff practice and children’s progress. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066218 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 registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home,

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

the individual is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(a)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that all staff have a full employment history on file and where there are gaps that these have been fully explored by the manager. 7 October 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date; and 7 October 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC066218 7 are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(a)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to children’s behaviour support plans, daily diary records and some of the children’s risk assessments.

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date; and

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Requirement Due date

retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the staff rosters containing the manager and deputy manager’s actual hours worked each week. 7 October 2022

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that managers and staff are aware of the local offer setting out the support available for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 26, paragraph 5.4)

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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: SC066218 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Essandore Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: c/o Harrison Latham, 97 Tulketh Street, Birkenhead, Merseyside PR8 1AW

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Inspector

Judith Birchall, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC066218 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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