Children's home run by Parkview Care (Broadstairs) Limited

Assurance inspection report for children's home: 2594775 1 Registered provider: Parkview Care (Broadstairs) Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by a private organisation. It provides care for up to four children with social and emotional difficulties. At the time of this inspection, one child was living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in December 2021, when the home was first registered. However, she is in the process of resigning her registration. A new manager has been appointed and was present during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

Date of last inspection: 6 September 2022

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Information about this children’s home

Judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Around the time of the last inspection, the responsible individual notified Ofsted of their intent to temporarily close the home. On 22 November 2022, a condition was imposed on the home requiring them to inform the Chief Inspector of their intention to accommodate children at the home at least three months before any child was admitted. The responsible individual gave notice shortly afterwards of the intention to admit children but, in the interim, breached the condition briefly between December 2022 and January 2023.

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Information about this inspection

At this inspection, the inspector evaluated:

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Information about this inspection

 the care of children  the safety of children  the effectiveness of leaders and managers. Assurance inspection report for children's home: 2594775 2 Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children, using the social care common inspection framework. This assurance 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’. Assurance inspection report for children's home: 2594775 3

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Findings from the inspection

We did not identify any serious or widespread concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at this assurance inspection.

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The care of children

Following the last inspection, the home has been almost entirely non-operational. A condition of registration was imposed in November 2022 to reflect a period of closure. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, the provider felt that it was necessary to accommodate a child living at one of their other homes at this home in December 2022. This was deemed to be an emergency situation and was planned to be a very short-term arrangement. However, circumstances led to the child living at the home for longer than planned, with the child moving on from the home in January 2023.

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The care of children

The provider had given notice of their intention to reopen. A new child moved into the home just a few days before this inspection.

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The care of children

The planning and preparation for this new child’s move to the home was thorough and well considered. The child is maintaining their existing school placement, supported by staff, who are providing transport. Notably, positive links with family and friends are being maintained. While it is very early days, the child is settling into their new home and their first experience of residential care.

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The care of children

The home is beautifully presented, comfortable and welcoming. The staff team is made up of new and some experienced staff. They have been provided with a comprehensive induction and good-quality, appropriate training. This training and development is ongoing.

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The safety of children

Leaders and managers are keenly aware of the shortfalls identified at the last inspection. Improvements have been made to ensure that communication with children, and practice to meet their needs, is strengthened.

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The safety of children

Key-work sessions are now seen as more central to listening to what children say, and formalising important discussions or information-sharing with children. Advocacy and support to make representations are now strengthened. There are better mechanisms to enable children to raise concerns and/or make formal complaints and for them to be responded to in a timely way.

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The safety of children

Leaders and managers have reviewed staff practice and addressed issues such as lone working. Very thorough introductory child protection training has been provided, complemented by more specialist areas of training, including responding to children who go missing from the home, self-injurious behaviour, harmful Assurance inspection report for children's home: 2594775 4 behaviour towards others and contextual safeguarding. External, specialist training has been sourced where necessary. This suite of training should enable staff to recognise risk and identify harm.

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The safety of children

All staff have training in emergency first aid and a number of staff have received more in-depth first-aid training, consisting of a three-day course. Staff have also received training in the administration of medication. Again, this is an area of risk addressed through good-quality training, although not all staff have had the opportunity to put their training into practice.

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The safety of children

Staff now have the theoretical tools to enable them to follow the home’s approach to supporting children in times of challenging behaviour. Going forward, they will need the continued support of leaders and managers and more experienced staff to ensure that behaviour management strategies are used confidently, fairly and consistently. This includes times when staff may have to consider consequences, which will need to be proportionate and relevant to incidents.

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The safety of children

Given the absence of children from the home for a period of time, responding to risk and harm, making safe decisions and following procedures, such as allegations against staff and whistle-blowing, are untested in practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

At the time of the last inspection, the responsible individual was new in post and the registered manager, in post since the home’s initial registration, was in day-to-day charge of the home. The new senior management team had already identified shortfalls in practice, in particular in the quality of care being provided and the capacity of staff to meet children’s needs. A decision was taken to close this home temporarily, although a re-evaluation of services led to the decision to close for a period being reversed quite quickly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The home has been largely non-operational since the last inspection. In recent months, leaders and managers have overhauled and improved many of the management monitoring systems. New care staff have been appointed and a new, experienced manager is in post.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers are investing in staff training and development. A newly appointed therapeutic practitioner is also providing training and support to the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers recognise that previously they were slow to react to address the shortage of experienced, skilled, confident staff, and they recognise that this impacted on staff morale and resilience, as well as the quality of care provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The home has made improvements across the board and met all the requirements set at the last inspection. Their preparedness for looking after children is well evidenced and the staff team has the foundations in place to be responsive and Assurance inspection report for children's home: 2594775 5 resilient. However, this readiness is untested and going forward the staff will rely on leaders and managers modelling good childcare practice and making good childcare decisions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers are confident that they can maintain high levels of support and challenge going forward.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/09/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Assurance inspection report for children's home: 2594775 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Parkview Care (Broadstairs) Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Brentano Suite Solar House, 915 High Road, North Finchley, London N12 8QJ

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Inspector

Corrinne Barker, Social Care Inspector Assurance inspection report for children's home: 2594775 7 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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