Children's Home run by Hexagon Care Services Limited in Leeds

Inspection report for children’s home: 2604035 1 Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Limited

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Full inspection 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 provider. It offers care for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, two children were living in the home. One child was spoken with during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

There has been a change of manager since the last inspection. A new manager has been appointed and is awaiting registration 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 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: 2604035 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/05/2023 Full Good 17/05/2022 Full Good 21/09/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2604035 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children currently living at this home have positive outcomes in most areas of their lives. They have both lived in the home for some considerable time. They enjoy positive relationships with the staff, which are built on mutual respect and trust. Staff show genuine care and warmth towards the children, and are proud of how far the children have progressed from their starting points. Those children who have moved out of the home since the last inspection also made progress in varying degrees.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some children who have now moved on from the home showed unsettled and difficult behaviours in the lead up to their placements ending. However, staff understood and supported the children in the best way they could. This means that those children moved on in a planned way and in line with their assessed level of need.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children feel listened to because they have a number of opportunities to express their views, including one-to-one discussions with staff. Records of these discussions capture the child’s voice and show that their views, wishes and feelings are considered and responded to appropriately by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to promote children’s family relationships, even when this has been challenging. Staff ensure that children are supported to get the best possible time and experience with those who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children’s learning effectively, helping them to develop skills that will support their independence when they eventually leave the home. With the encouragement of staff, children develop greater maturity and self-belief in what they can achieve.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy lots of positive experiences, such as bike riding, playing rugby, going on holiday, visiting theme parks and sightseeing. These experiences are captured in children’s case records. However, photos, certificates and memorabilia are not routinely collated and presented in a way that helps children to remember their experiences of living in the home. This is a missed opportunity for children to have something tangible as a keepsake when they move on from the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s care plans offer an overview of the children and their needs. These plans are reviewed by staff on a regular basis. However, not all of the information in the plans is current and is more generic in nature. This represents a missed opportunity to fully capture the uniqueness of each individual child and provide an accurate and up-to-date account of their day-to-day routines, structure and experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a large, suitably designed and comfortable home. The home is furnished and maintained to a good standard. Inspection report for children’s home: 2604035 4

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

Children’s individual vulnerabilities and likely risk-taking behaviours are well understood and documented. This ensures that staff have essential guidance to recognise and minimise the potential for harm. Most children have considerable histories that include concerns of going missing from home, disruptive behaviour, or self-harm. However, since living in the home, these risks have reduced or ceased completely. For example, there have been no missing from home episodes since the last inspection.

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

Staff continue to have strong links with the organisation’s therapeutic service. This ensures that children receive support for their emotional, social and psychological needs. Staff receive regular training in specific therapeutic models of care. The addition of consultation and more bespoke training with clinicians has also had a positive effect. The combination of these support systems has proved to be successful in helping most children to reduce unwanted behaviours.

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

Physical intervention is only used when necessary and as a last resort to promote the safety of children and others. Staff are fully trained in the use of holds, and incidents are thoroughly documented. Children and staff are fully involved in discussion around the prevention of further incidents.

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

The new manager has recently introduced clearer systems for monitoring daily routines and structure for the children. Staff report that these are working well and that they feel they have more guidance around how to best manage unwanted behaviour. Furthermore, children are benefiting from more structured routines and incentives are in place to reward children’s positive behaviours.

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

Children are becoming more mature and independent. As such, they are now able to have more free time in the community, where they spend time with their friends. Children understand what is expected of them regarding staying in contact with staff and always come home at the agreed time.

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

Door monitors are fitted on children’s bedroom doors. The use of these monitors is highlighted in the statement of purpose and are used to assist staff with the movements of all children. However, the continual use of the monitors has not been reviewed by managers since the children moved in. Therefore, it is unclear as to whether the measure is proportionate or, indeed, necessary.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been a change of manager and deputy manager since the last inspection. Both managers have a ‘hands-on’ approach, they lead by example and know the children in their care very well. The manager and deputy manager are child focused and committed to delivering and maintaining good standards of care. Both promote a clear ethos that is caring, supportive and ‘doing what is best for children’. Inspection report for children’s home: 2604035 5 Earlier in the year, achieving consistency in staffing posed a significant challenge for the home. At times, there was a need to use staff from other homes across the organisation, as well as agency staff, to cover some gaps in the rota. However, following a successful recruitment drive, the home is now fully staffed. New staff, along with more experienced workers, say that the home has now moved on to a more settled period and morale has improved. Staff spoken with during the inspection say that they are well supported by

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

their managers and that they enjoy coming to work.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from a range of regular training opportunities. They also receive purposeful supervision sessions, which have been expanded to include opportunity for reflection. The manager has also implemented team reflection days to help further enhance care practice in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good understanding of the home’s strengths and what needs to improve. This is because she makes good use of a range of internal and external quality assurance processes. She ensures that all aspects of care practice are monitored on a regular basis and demonstrates a commitment to improving children’s care experiences. Inspection report for children’s home: 2604035 6

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Recommendations

 The registered provider should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of the children. In particular, that the use of bedroom door alarms is carefully risk assessed and evaluated for appropriateness prior to use. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that the home’s records on each child represent a significant contribution to their life history. Staff should keep, and encourage children to keep, appropriate memorabilia of the time spent living at the home and help children record significant life events. In particular, that placement plans provide an accurate and up-to-date account of the child’s life and that staff complete memory books with children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5)

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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: 2604035 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 1 Tustin Court, Riversway, Preston, Lancashire PR2 2YQ

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Inspector

Ceri Evans, His Majesty’s Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2604035 8 regulates and 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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