Children's home run by First Blue Healthcare Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 1280210 1 Registered provider: First Blue Healthcare Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is operated by a private company and provides care for two children who have had adverse childhood experiences.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a new manager in post who took up their position in October 2022. She is not yet registered with Ofsted.

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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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1280210 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/05/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/05/2021 Full Good 09/03/2020 Interim Improved effectiveness 30/09/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 1280210 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of this inspection, two children were living at the home. Since the last inspection, one child has moved out of this home, and one child been welcomed into the home and has settled in well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have a positive view of the children who they look after. Despite the challenging behaviour that children can present, the staff work hard to engage them. This support helps children to feel confident about their relationships with staff and improves their progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff work hard to ensure that children access education that meets their needs. One child has a tutor who completes online work with him. In addition to this work, staff offer incentives to support him with educational activities in the home. Older children are engaged in work-based placements to support their learning and aspirations for the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children have clear health plans and are registered with the relevant primary healthcare services. Staff understand the importance of good health and support children to attend physical and psychological health appointments. Children have regular access to the organisation’s therapist. This serves to further promote the emotional well-being of the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise the importance of family relationships and go to considerable lengths to ensure that these are promoted and improved. Staff demonstrate a detailed understanding of each child and their family relationships. They work proactively with parents and social workers to ensure that family time is safe and a positive experience.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff complete key-work sessions to help review children’s needs and areas of risk. These sessions give children the opportunity to reflect on their behaviour and the chance to discuss any worries.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have good opportunities to develop independence skills, build on their existing abilities and take controlled risks. Children’s confidence and resilience are developed through these opportunities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager ensures that the home is generally kept to a good standard. Overall, the home provides children with a pleasant and welcoming place to live. Children are given the opportunity to choose their own bedrooms and decide how they should be decorated. This helps to give children a sense of belonging. However, some areas of the home need addressing, such as the window blinds in one child’s bedroom which are not working, along with unsightly markings on the stair banister. Inspection report for children’s home: 1280210 4

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

Staff demonstrate a good understanding of safe working practice. They have a good understanding of children’s needs and particular vulnerabilities that help to keep children safe. However, some risk assessments do not reflect the children’s current situation. This could potentially lead to inconsistent practice when the staff are managing risk.

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

Staff follow individual missing-from-care protocols that help to identify a child’s vulnerabilities. Staff maintain good communication with all agencies so that incidents are ended as quickly as possible. When a child returns from being missing from home, the staff make sure that they can speak to an independent person. This helps staff to understand the reasons why a child has chosen to go missing from the home and to find new ways to minimise the chances of this happening again in the future.

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

Staff are prepared to work through difficult periods with children. This support enables children to reflect on incidents in a constructive and helpful way. Staff promote a positive culture of praise and reward. As a result, negative consequences are rare and physical intervention is reducing over time. This is because staff are trained and skilled in using de-escalation strategies.

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

Children live in a physically safe environment. Staff carry out regular health and safety checks on all electrical, gas and fire safety equipment. Regular fire drills take place so that children know what they need to do in the event of a fire.

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

Children are protected by the organisation’s effective recruitment practice. Staff are vetted and assessed as suitable before any appointment is made. This procedure promotes the safety of the children by preventing unsuitable adults from working with them.

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good

The home has been without a registered manager since November 2022.

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good

Since the last inspection, there have been several changes to staffing in the home. This includes a new manager, a newly appointed deputy manager and some new care staff. The manager and core team members have worked hard to ensure that there has been no negative impact on the children because of these changes.

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good

Staff are very positive about the support they receive from the manager. However, supervision sessions for some staff are not regular. This means that staff are not receiving appropriate levels of management oversight. Furthermore, it means that there is no evidence that staff are provided with opportunities to reflect on their practice.

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good

Staff undertake a wide range of relevant training that supports their practice and enables them to understand and meet the needs of children. Staff are up to date Inspection report for children’s home: 1280210 5 with training. Communication between team members is good. Handovers are child- focused and detailed and provide each staff member with clear guidance for the work that they are to undertake with children.

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good

Collaborative working relationships help to promote children’s welfare. One placing social worker reports,’ Care staff communicate with myself regularly, they update me of any issues or ask me for advice and guidance or for any decision making before they do anything with [name of child].’ Inspection report for children’s home: 1280210 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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 the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to repairing the roller blind in a child’s room and cleaning the stair banister of the markings that are on it. 29 June 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

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)) 29 June 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 1280210 7 This specifically relates to ensuring that risk assessments are reviewed so that they remain relevant to the children.

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home; and

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Requirement Due date

is an organisation or a partnership. (Regulation 27 (1)(a)(b)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that a registered manager is in place in the home. 29 June 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that all staff receive regular supervision. 29 June 2023

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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: 1280210 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: First Blue Healthcare Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Seighford Hall, Clanford Road, Seighford, Stafford ST18 9NL

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Inspectors

Dave Carrigan, Social Care Inspector Virginia Vickers, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1280210 9 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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