Children's Home run by City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council in Bradford

Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC486606 1 SC486606

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Information about this children’s home

This local authority home is registered to provide care for one child who may have social and/or emotional difficulties. This home provides emergency, short-term or medium-term care. One child with complex emotional health needs currently lives at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The home does not have a registered manager as they resigned in November 2022 following the last full inspection. A new manager has been appointed, but they are yet to apply to register with Ofsted.

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This monitoring visit

A full inspection was undertaken on 27 and 28 October 2022. Serious shortfalls were identified relating to safeguarding practice and management oversight, which led to the home being judged inadequate.

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This monitoring visit

The nature of the concerns led to a compliance notice in relation to regulation 13 of the Children’s Homes Regulations. The purpose of this monitoring visit was to review the provider’s progress against the compliance notice.

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This monitoring visit

The management arrangements have been strengthened, giving staff improved direction and guidance. Improvements in monitoring and oversight of the home have given managers a stronger grip on the quality of care provided for the child.

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This monitoring visit

The agency mental health nurses commissioned to work at the home have now had the same behaviour management training as the provider’s own staff. This enables a consistent response for the child when they need to be held. It also enables the managers to have a clearer understanding of the behaviour managements strategies used by staff so that they can evaluate these. Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC486606 2 An internal review of the previous restraint records completed by staff has identified a number of areas for improvement. The learning points identified have not yet been shared with staff. Therefore, further work is still needed with staff to ensure that their recording is robust. However, the scrutiny and oversight of managers has ensured that restraint records completed since the full inspection by staff meet the requirements set out in the Children’s Home Regulations.

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This monitoring visit

There is now an improved system for monitoring the hours worked by agency mental health nurses. The managers authorise and track shift patterns to ensure that staff are not working excessive hours.

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This monitoring visit

Improved systems for recording staff training now help managers to identify when training is due to be refreshed. Managers are taking steps to remedy the training shortfalls identified at the last inspection. Additional training that is specific to the needs of the child has been delivered to the staff team to improve their knowledge and understanding.

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This monitoring visit

The frequency of staff supervision has improved for core staff and has now been extended to include the agency mental health nurses. One nurse said, ‘It helps us keep up to date with [Name of child’s] plan and reflect more.’ However, the templates used for recording practice-related supervision are not consistent and may lead to staff experiencing inconsistencies in the delivery of their supervision. Also, team meeting records do not describe how agreed actions are brought forward and reviewed at the next meeting. This weakens the process of managers evaluating the team’s effectiveness.

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This monitoring visit

A review of the agency workers’ recruitment records has reassured the provider that safe recruitment checks have been completed. Recruitment shortfalls found at the last inspection have also been rectified. This means managers now have the required information to help them evaluate whether all workers are suitable to work with children.

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This monitoring visit

The good practice recommendation in relation to consulting with children, families and relevant professionals as part of the quality-of-care review has not been explored during this inspection, and therefore will be carried forward to review at the next inspection. The requirements from the last inspection and the steps in the compliance notice have been met by the provider. Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC486606 3

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 27/10/2022 Full Inadequate 17/11/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 03/08/2021 Full Inadequate 09/03/2020 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC486606 4

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What does the children’s home need to do to improve?

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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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the documents used for team meetings and staff supervisions support managers and staff to review how actions have been met and show how progress has been made. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)  The registered person should ensure that the quality-of-care review demonstrates consultation with children, families, and other professionals as part of the process. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken and the progress made by the children’s home since its last Ofsted inspection.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000. Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC486606 5

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: City Hall, Centenary Square, Bradford BD1 1HY

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Picklu Roychoudhury

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Inspector

Aaron Mcloughlin, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC486606 6 regulates and inspects 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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