Children's Home run by Gracewells Care Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2577168 1 Registered provider: Gracewells Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a private provider. It is registered to provide care for up to four children who may have social and/or emotional needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been in post since April 2022 and was formally registered with Ofsted in November 2022.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 2577168 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/08/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2577168 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is a pleasant and welcoming environment for children to live. The home is personalised to the children and is very much their home. Children are able to keep small pets and, at the time of the inspection, a dog belonging to a child’s relative was spending a couple of days in the home. Staff consider such requests as they would do for someone in their own family. This helps children to feel part of a family environment. Looking after a pet also helps children to learn about responsibility and helps to improve their self-confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff team is largely stable. This helps children to develop trusting relationships with staff, without fear that they will be leaving shortly. Children have positive relationships with staff. There is a relaxed and easy relationship between staff and children. Children can talk freely to staff, and staff often take this opportunity to raise a topic for discussion. However, these conversations are not always documented, so it is unclear if important issues have been followed up or not.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, children have moved in and out of the home in a planned way. Staff appreciate the significance of such moves and work hard to make it as easy as possible for the child. Children have the chance to visit the home and meet the other children before they move in. Children say that this has eased their transition and reduced their anxiety about moving in to the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to attend school regularly. Children’s attendance and attainment improves on their admission to the home. Children have good routines, and attending school is a part of this. Similarly, children understand that their homework should be completed prior to going out to visit friends or family. All the children are also expected to spend one evening a week together in the home, so that they can spend time doing an activity with each other and staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children’s health needs are addressed, and records show when children have attended a medical appointment. Medication is also stored securely. However, when one child was prescribed antibiotics, they were not administered as prescribed, potentially making them ineffective.

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

Staff have a good understanding of children’s needs and vulnerabilities. Risk management plans are of good quality and include strategies for staff to implement to reduce risk.

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

Children are learning to manage their behaviour and make their own decisions. Children enjoy positive and respectful relationships with staff and accept that decisions are made to keep them safe. There have been no physical interventions since the last inspection. Inspection report for children’s home: 2577168 4 Children’s risk-taking behaviours reduce as they settle in the home, and serious incidents are infrequent. Children generally accept that there are consequences to poor behaviour. Sanctions are implemented occasionally, but they are fair, relate to the behaviour of concern, and are restorative whenever possible. Although children are also rewarded for positive behaviour and decision-making, this is largely done on an ad-hoc basis and records do not always reflect this.

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

Incidents of children going missing from the home are rare. However, children benefit from missing-from-home protocols that contain details and addresses of individuals known to the child, making it easier to locate them quickly. Staff also keep in regular contact with children when they are out in the community.

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

Children get on well together most of the time. However, staff discuss bullying both individually and at children’s meetings, ensuring that children understand what constitutes bullying and know what action to take if they felt that they were being victimised. Staff remain alert to bullying and take swift action if they have any concerns.

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

Shortfalls in the safer recruitment of staff were identified at this inspection, as they were at the last inspection. A discrepancy in employment dates between an individual’s application and those provided by referees was not identified or addressed prior to this inspection, despite it indicating that there was potentially a large gap in employment dates. This compromises the integrity of the recruitment process, which is designed to keep children safe.

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

A range of health and safety checks are routinely performed, and staff and children engage in regular fire drills. However, an annual gas safety check was outstanding and had not been completed while one child was resident in the home, potentially compromising their safety. This has since been rectified.

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good

Following the last inspection, the organisation chose to close the home for a short period. The home reopened in May 2022 with a new manager and staff team in place. The manager is appropriately experienced and qualified. However, during the period that the home was closed, a child from another of the organisation’s homes lived there for a short time. While the decision-making regarding this move was sound, the move was not classed as an admission to this home. Consequently, the admission and discharge register for the home contains no details about this child. Furthermore, the register does not include any details regarding the discharge of the last child to live in the home prior to it closing. Regulations dictate that these details are maintained.

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good

The home is fully staffed, and staff talk positively about their peer and management support. Staff receive regular supervision and have largely completed core training. Inspection report for children’s home: 2577168 5 However, due to a decision to change the preferred method of physical intervention, some staff are yet to complete formal training, leaving them and the children vulnerable if an incident were to occur.

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good

While local authority consents are obtained for a variety of matters, there are no consents in place in relation to the electronic monitoring used in the home. Furthermore, this is not referenced in the home’s statement of purpose, although action was taken to address this during the inspection.

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good

There are shortfalls in relation to management monitoring and oversight. The manager’s evaluation of incidents is not always evident, which results in some issues not being identified and addressed. While children’s meetings take place weekly, there is no manager’s response to any specific requests made, and children raise the same matters repeatedly, making this process ineffective. Furthermore, records do not show what has happened to any items that have been removed during a room search.

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good

There has been little emphasis on any formal consultation with those living in and working in the home or other professionals, in order to help drive forward improvements in the home. This is despite this being identified as an action in the last internal monitoring report.

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good

While action has been taken to address some of the requirements and recommendations made at the last inspection, three requirements are repeated at this inspection, as insufficient action has been taken to address these matters. Inspection report for children’s home: 2577168 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 promotes their welfare.

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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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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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)(c)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that monitoring systems are used to drive forward improvements and that all staff receive training in physical intervention.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 28 April 2023

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that all health and safety checks are up to date while children are living in the home. 28 April 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2577168 7 The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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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) (3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that application forms are scrutinised and dates of employment confirmed with referees, to make sure that there are no gaps in employment.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 28 April 2023

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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; and ensure that the records are kept up to date. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that there is a register showing the details of children who have lived in the home.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 28 April 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if—

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Requirement Due date

the child’s placing authority consents in writing to the monitoring or surveillance. (Regulation 24 (1)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that written consents to door alarms are obtained. 28 April 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that— 28 April 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2577168 8 medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child. (Regulation 23 (1) (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that children receive prescribed medication at the frequency it is prescribed.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff encourage children to express their views about whether they feel safe both within and outside the home. Staff should support children by completing work with them on risks pertinent to each child, so that they are able to make informed decisions and understand the implications of their decision-making. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.10)

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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: 2577168 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Gracewells Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 21 Jubilee House, East Beach, Lytham St Annes FY8 5FT

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Inspector

Mandy Williams, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2577168 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 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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