Children's Home run by Blue Mountain Homes Ltd in Nottinghamshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC475335 1 SC475335 Registered provider: Blue Mountain Homes Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care and accommodation for up to four children and young people aged between six and 16 years. The home will accept children and young people on either a planned or emergency basis. The children and young people accommodated at this home have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. These are the result of abuse, ranging from neglect to emotional, physical and/or financial abuse, as well as superficial self-harm and self-esteem issues, attachment disorders and concerns regarding independent living and the transition to independent living.

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Information about this children’s home

The provider believes that an atmosphere of understanding, honesty, learning and support is fundamental to bringing stability to vulnerable young people.

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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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC475335 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/07/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 06/12/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness 27/09/2016 Full Good 17/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC475335 3

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Recommendations

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 with the given timescales.

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Recommendations

 For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene, etc.); 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 actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. They should be skilled in anticipating difficulties and reviewing incidents, such as learning from disruptions and placement breakdowns. They are responsible for proactively implementing lessons learned and sustaining good practice. (‘Guide to

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Recommendations

the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people and staff develop and maintain good relationships. Staff show patience, understanding and commitment towards young people. Staff understand that some young people have had difficult life experiences, and that this can be the underlying reason for negative or destructive behaviour. To address this, staff undertake regular individual work with young people and spend time with them. Young people confirmed this during the inspection and said that they value this support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of young people making good educational progress. Young people have often experienced significant educational disruption in their lives. They can remain resistant to attending and engaging with education or training. Staff work with young people to develop good educational plans and encourage them to attend education or training settings. Despite resistance from some young people, staff persevere and continue to be ambitious for the young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The physical condition of the home has improved. The manager and staff continue to Inspection report children’s home: SC475335 4 redecorate the home, improving the living environment for the benefit of young people. Young people personalise their home and their rooms to their liking and they are encouraged to do so by the manager and staff. Equipment or furniture is replaced or repaired if broken. Some bedrooms present as institutional in appearance and need improvement to make them more homely.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager completes effective care and support plans when new young people move in. This is particularly evident when a young person comes to live at the home in an emergency. The manager ensures that staff have enough information to provide good immediate care. Professional meetings are arranged to ensure that the young person has the right support and services in place to help them to succeed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager recognises the importance of young people having positive experiences and memories of their time at the home. He encourages staff to complete memory books with young people. This is a positive and welcome development and helps young people to develop a positive sense of identity and understanding of their time in care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people understand their rights and entitlements when coming to live at the home. Young people benefit from an informative and detailed handbook that is personalised for them. This explains what they can expect from living at the home. Staff help young people to understand the contents of the handbook, including details about how young people can complain if they are unhappy, and how to seek support and help from agencies external to the home.

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

Staff understand their roles and responsibilities in safeguarding young people. They understand the organisation’s child protection policy. They know what actions to take if they are concerned about the behaviour of colleagues and know how to report concerns. This helps to safeguard young people.

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

The manager completes good, detailed risk assessments and behaviour management plans. Staff understand these plans and implement them consistently to keep young people safe.

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

At times, the behaviour of young people has been aggressive and has resulted in physical intervention. Staff have received training in the correct use of such intervention. Physical intervention is used as a last resort and its use is proportionate and necessary to keep young people and staff safe. Following any physical intervention, staff complete key-work sessions with young people in an attempt to understand the reasons for the escalation in behaviour. All incidents receive oversight from the manager to ensure that correct procedures are used. This helps staff to learn from incidents.

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

The manager and staff follow the correct procedures and agreed protocols when young people are away from the home without permission. Staff will maintain regular contact with young people and try to persuade them to return home. Staff contact the relevant Inspection report children’s home: SC475335 5 agencies and keep them informed. When young people return to the home, staff provide care and support. Staff try to understand what led to them leaving the home, to prevent a reoccurrence.

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

Risk to young people is minimised through the manager adhering to safer recruitment practices. Prospective new staff members undergo a thorough recruitment process which consists of a number of checks to ensure that they are safe to work with young people. This helps to keep young people safe.

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

The manager has completed a detailed and comprehensive location risk assessment. This assessment, completed in consultation with relevant agencies, ensures that the manager and staff have a good understanding of potential concerns in the local neighbourhood. This helps staff to steer young people away from any areas of risk and maintains close links with partner agencies.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is relatively new in post. He demonstrates enthusiasm and commitment to this position. He understands that this home has had a difficult inspection history and he is determined to address this. He is currently studying for the level 5 diploma in management. Senior care staff in the home support him and he is seeking to recruit a new deputy manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff report that they feel supported and settled in their roles. The home has a full complement of staff. Staff receive regular professional supervision. They are supported to undertake training and development, equipping them to care for young people. Staff now enjoy regular team meetings. The team presents as being positive, with mutual respect within the staff team and humour.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has developed good, supportive relationships with young people and he understands their plans. Young people trust the manager, confide in him and accept the guidance and support he provides. The manager will advocate on behalf of young people and work with the placing local authorities to ensure that young people have the services and resources in place to meet their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has written a development plan for the home to drive improvements. Implementation of this plan is underway, and includes:

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

 improvements to the fabric of the building  improved risk assessments for young people  improved support plans for young people  increased involvement from the team in relation to team meetings and decision- making.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the service. Inspection report children’s home: SC475335 6 He understands the reasons for the previous weak inspection history of the home. He remains focused on improvement. He has started to develop systems to monitor the quality of the service, but this requires more work, especially in tracking young people’s progress, to make this stronger.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

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Information about this inspection

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: SC475335 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Blue Mountain Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Flat 17, Leeland Mansions, Leeland Road, London W13 9HE

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Pradeep Manaktala

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Inspector

Phillip Morris: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC475335 8 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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