Children's home run by Blue Mountain Homes Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2600978 1 Registered provider: Blue Mountain Homes Ltd 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 privately owned. It provides care for up to four children who have social and emotional difficulties due to past trauma.

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Information about this children’s home

There is an appropriately qualified and experienced registered manager who has been in post since August 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 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: 2600978 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/07/2022 Full Good 20/04/2022 Full Inadequate 25/01/2022 Interim Declined in effectiveness 13/10/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2600978 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are four children living at the home. One child has recently moved on from the home in a planned way. A social worker commented on the good communication with the registered manager and how this benefited the child’s positive move out of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress and benefit from effective, individualised support from staff. Children are supported with well-planned, personalised care that meets their needs effectively. They enjoy good-quality relationships with staff and receive continuity of care, which sustain their positive attachments.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are healthy and are well supported by staff to meet their health needs. Routine appointments are made for children, and there is an emphasis on ensuring that required dental work is completed. Children are learning independence skills, such as making home-made meals, personal hygiene skills and completing their own laundry tasks. Children who need mental health support can access specialist services and meet with clinicians fortnightly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Education is well promoted at the home, and the manager has worked hard to ensure that all children have an educational placement. One child’s reviewing officer complimented the manager’s and staff’s understanding of their child’s needs when creating a tailored education plan.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, the home has had some redecoration in the lounge, communal spaces and children’s bedrooms. However, there are some areas of the home with damaged paintwork and remedial work required to some doors. Action was taken during the inspection to start this work.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend regular house meetings and discuss a variety of topics. Staff use these meetings to obtain children’s views, wishes and feelings. The registered manager has oversight of these records. However, children do not yet receive meaningful feedback on actions taken to act on their feelings and wishes.

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

The manager analyses trends in children’s behaviour. This analysis is used to identify any triggers that may be causing changes in children’s behaviour. For example, one child was going missing when out locally and was arriving at their family members’ homes. The manager has worked closely with the child’s family and social worker to support an increase in family time to help reduce the risk of this child going missing from the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2600978 4 Staff are proactive when children’s whereabouts are unknown. Staff use their knowledge of the children to search for them effectively and ensure their safe return. Intelligence from these episodes of children going missing from the home is used to develop strategies to reduce this risk in the future.

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

Staff are effective at managing children’s challenging behaviour and reducing the need for any negative consequences. Staff are sensitive when supporting children during incidents and reflect well in debriefs with the manager. Children are also included in learning from these difficult situations, which is reflected in their behaviour support plans.

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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 how best to communicate with children. This is complemented by effective care plans and risk assessments that assist staff in knowing which areas children need support in.

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

The manager recruits staff safely and ensures all vetting is completed before staff work with the children. This good practice ensures that children are cared for by safe adults. Children told the inspector they feel safe with the adults who care for them.

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

Restraint records do not include provision to include details of any methods used, or the steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure. Though staff practice during incidents is positive, this oversight means that children’s records do not include the full detail of how staff support them during periods of crisis. Further shortfalls in the provider’s electronic recording system mean that it is not always clear which staff member has completed individual forms.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has been in post since August 2022 and has made improvements to the culture at the home. The manager has a good understanding of the home’s strengths and takes steps to continually improve the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is passionate about the children living at the home and speaks knowledgeably about each of their lives. This good practice ensures that the children’s support plans are individualised. Professionals also described the manager as a ‘positive advocate’ for children living at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s monitoring systems are effective and enable him to review the progress that children are making. Information from the independent person’s reports helps the manager to identify patterns and trends and to evaluate the quality of care for children. However, this is not reflected in the review of quality of care report he submitted. This lacked evidence of consultation with children and a clear action plan.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision. Those spoken with during the inspection said that they find supervision supportive and that it helps them when working with the Inspection report for children’s home: 2600978 5 children. Team meetings are held regularly and support the staff to work in a consistent way.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have undertaken the organisation’s mandatory training. However, despite requests from the manager, although these courses are booked, the provider has failed to provide staff with training specific to children’s needs in a timely manner. This affects the staff team’s knowledge and skills to understand children’s experiences and the impact these may have had on their lives. Inspection report for children’s home: 2600978 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, The 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

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(iv)(v)) 19 October 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children's home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (3))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that they gather the views, wishes and feelings of children to incorporate into their review of the quality of care children receive.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, they must ensure that the written report is evaluative and analytical and includes actions that they intend to undertake to promote continuous improvement. 28 December 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2600978 7 This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that repairs and maintenance are completed in a timely way to a high quality. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)  The registered person should ensure that children are able to see that the results of their views in children’s house meetings are listened to and acted on with clear feedback from the registered manager. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access the training to meet the needs of children in their care in a timely way. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)  The registered person should ensure that electronic records clearly show who made the record. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the

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Recommendations

quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 14.2)

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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: 2600978 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Blue Mountain Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 20-21, Pullman Business Court, Mallard Way, Pride Park, Derby DE24 8GX

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Pradeep Manaktala

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Inspector

Mark Dickinson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2600978 9 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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