Children's home run by Hexagon Care Services Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2614095 1 Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A private provider owns the home. It is registered to provide care for one child with emotional and social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since December 2020.

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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: 2 November 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: 2614095 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/11/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2614095 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child lives in a well-maintained and welcoming home. Staff build trusting relationships with the child. They do this by getting to know the child, listening to and spending time with them, and treating them with dignity and respect. Staff provide consistent care with clear boundaries. This enables the child to feel secure and a sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child enjoys a range of different activities inside and outside of the home. Staff spend time with the child playing imaginatively with their toys and games. Staff involve the child’s family in days out and activities. They collect important memories and put these into a memory book. As a result, this is helping the child to maintain connections and share experiences with their family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have completed training in a recognised model of care. The manager has a plan to support the model of care to become fully embedded. This approach is helping the child to understand their feelings, which helps them to express their emotions positively. Evidence gathered at this inspection clearly highlights a noticeable positive change in the child’s presentation because of the relationships that they have with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child’s school attendance has improved significantly since moving in to the home. The child regularly attends and enjoys school. Staff are working actively to support the child with their health. They support the child to overcome the barriers to attending health appointments. They also have a balanced approach to healthy eating and exercise. This promotes the child’s health and well-being.

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

The child told the inspector that they feel safe and can talk to staff about any problems they have. The child trusts the adults who care for them and this has helped the child to settle and make progress.

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

Staff understand and protect the child from the risks to them and others. The child’s care plans contain clear strategies and approaches. However, staff do not make sure that the child’s risk assessment fully assesses all the risks to the child. This specifically relates to using the internet and child criminal exploitation. This means that the risk assessment is not comprehensive, which could lead to inconsistent practice from staff.

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

There are no incidents of the child being missing from care, but relevant plans are in place for staff to follow should this occur. Inspection report for children’s home: 2614095 4 The child is receiving care that meets their needs well. When the child’s emotions are heightened, staff use distraction and techniques to prevent and defuse incidents. As a last resort, staff use restraint for the shortest time needed to prevent more-serious harm to the child, others or the property. Staff achieve this through providing consistent care, clear boundaries and promoting positive behaviours in line with the model of care. This approach is effective, and the number of incidents is reducing.

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

The manager makes sure that staff are suitably checked and vetted prior to them working with the child. The manager has made sure that they now record how they assess safeguarding knowledge in the interview recruitment process. This reduces the risks associated with unsuitable people providing the child’s care.

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

Staff understand and carry out their roles and responsibilities in safeguarding children. When an allegation was made, the manager took appropriate action to report and thoroughly investigate the allegation. The child and staff involved received support. This helps to better protect the child from risks to their safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by an experienced manager, who is visible and approachable. Staff told the inspector that they feel well supported by the management team. The manager makes sure that staff receive training, and has improved the quality of staff supervision. Staff are now receiving regular and effective supervision that is reflective. This is helping staff to develop their skills and learn through their experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager carefully makes decisions about children who move in to the home and whether staff can meet their needs. The manager made sure that staff received support and training to adapt to caring for the child who is currently living in the home. This means that the risk of the home not being suitable for the child is reduced and they receive care that is suitable for their age.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The leaders and managers complete regular monitoring of the home. The management systems are mostly effective and enable managers to identify areas for improvement. The external monitoring arrangements have recently changed to improve the oversight of quality of care. This helps leaders and managers to monitor quality and make improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff do not always keep clear and accurate records of the child’s care. The manager does not require staff to sign all the entries that they have made in the child’s records. There are different documents for daily recording and the information that staff record is not consistent. This means that the records are not fully reflective of key events that have occurred. When a child had a minor injury, the records relating to how this occurred and had been investigated were unclear. This means that there is not always a clear and accurate record of the child’s care. Inspection report for children’s home: 2614095 5 The manager works well with the family and external professionals to provide consistent care for the child. They seek feedback regularly from the child, their family, staff, and external professionals about care. This feedback is used to make improvements where needed. Inspection report for children’s home: 2614095 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risks to the child and arrangements in place to protect them. In particular, this should include risks around internet safety and child criminal exploitation. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children’s case records are kept up to date, signed and dated by the author of each entry. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)

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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: 2614095 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Tustin Court, Port Way, Ashton-on-Ribble, Preston, PR2 2YQ

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Inspector

Honor Hamshaw, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2614095 8 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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