Children's home run by Hexagon Care Services Limited in Preston

Inspection report for children's home: SC479654 1 SC479654 Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Limited

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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 company. The home is registered to provide care for up to six children of the same gender. Children living in the home also have access to the organisation’s school and therapy departments.

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Information about this children’s home

The inspector only inspected the social care provision at this site.

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Information about this children’s home

There were four children living in the home at the time of the inspection. They all spoke with the inspector about their experiences of living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in January 2024. She is working towards the necessary leadership and management qualification.

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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

Date of last inspection: 14 November 2023

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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: SC479654 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/11/2023 Full Good 19/07/2023 Full Inadequate 07/03/2023 Full Good 08/02/2022 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children's home: SC479654 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a relaxed and comfortable home. They have trusting and positive relationships with the staff team, whom they can talk to openly about their views and feelings. Children’s identities are respected, promoted and understood by the staff team. Consequently, all children feel valued and well cared for.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Supportive plans are in place for children moving into the home. Children visit the home and spend time with the other children. Leaders and managers consult with a variety of professionals and family members to determine the suitability of the child living alongside the children already in the home. When children move out of the home, some have experienced planned transitions to foster care. Other children have moved out unexpectedly. This is because their needs were no longer being met and their behaviour was impacting on other children’s safety and well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make progress while living in the home. This includes developing their confidence, establishing healthy relationships and understanding and developing their emotional maturity. Social workers and children’s families are extremely positive about the care provided to children by the staff team.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s school attendance is excellent. Their learning is tailored to their skills and strengths. Teaching staff and the therapist work effectively with the residential staff to support children. Staff prepare children for their futures and help them to develop their independence skills through practical tasks. This is a staged process, taken at the child’s own pace to assess whether they can start spending time in the community and accessing public transport independently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Family time is prioritised for children. Children are helped to rebuild their relationships with their families. Children are supported to access recreational activities associated with their interests and hobbies. They are members of their local football club and have enjoyed trips away with staff, making special memories. Children’s achievements are recognised and celebrated by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive support to maintain their health and well-being. External professionals are accessed when children require additional support to meet their health needs. Children engage well in weekly sessions with the in-house therapist. This has helped them to confidently talk about past trauma and any concerns. The therapist also supports the staff team and contributes to children’s plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s voices are heard. Their views and feelings are evidenced in their care plans and direct work. They participate in decisions about their future. Fortnightly house meetings support children to share their views about living together, to make suggestions to improve the home and to share their thoughts about any changes made. Inspection report for children's home: SC479654 4

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

Children are safe and protected from harm. Staff have a good understanding of children’s behaviours and how they wish to be supported to manage their behaviour. Children know how to use the complaints procedure. Although they have not raised any formal complaints, they are confident that any concerns raised would be taken seriously.

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

Safeguarding concerns are responded to swiftly and appropriately. Staff understand their responsibilities in keeping children safe, promoting healthy relationships and supporting children with any mental health concerns. Staff are nurturing in their response. Consequently, all children say they are safe and secure in their home.

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

Staff consistently follow children’s individual behaviour and risk reduction plans. They implement appropriate safeguards to minimise risks for children. In addition, children are educated and supported to keep themselves safe. The manager’s oversight and evaluation of incidents have significantly improved. She uses reflection and lessons learned to provide additional guidance to staff.

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

When children go missing from the home, staff take appropriate action. Leaders and managers communicate regularly with safeguarding professionals, including the local community police, to explore children’s incidents of going missing from home, any associated risks and how the risks can be mitigated.

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

Restraint is used proportionately and only as a last resort. Debriefs with staff are used to identify any additional de-escalation strategies that could be used to support children and prevent further use of restraint. The senior team also seeks advice from the company’s training instructor in relation to the management of incidents. This provides staff with additional guidance.

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

Consequences used are fair and proportionate. Follow-up work is undertaken with children to help them to reflect on their behaviour linked to the consequence. The manager oversees all consequences. However, her evaluation of the effectiveness of the consequence is sometimes vague. The manager recognises that her evaluation could be more explicit in assessing whether the measure is effective.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager recognises the home’s strengths and areas for development. She is receptive to feedback and learning opportunities. She has a good understanding of the children, their progress and their needs. The manager is supported by a competent deputy manager, and they work collaboratively together. They are positive role models for both children and staff. They advocate on behalf of children and challenge professionals, when required, to improve the outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Some staff have left their roles and new staff have joined the team. There was a reliance on agency staff for a period, which at times had an impact on the continuity of care for Inspection report for children's home: SC479654 5 children. However, the manager has now recruited additional staff. Both children and staff are positive about the staff who have joined the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say they are supported by leaders and managers. They have regular practice- related supervision which includes reflective practice and supports their professional development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings take place regularly and are well attended. Meetings are used to review children’s needs, discuss any safeguarding matters, drive forward improvements and to ensure that staff are clear about the safeguards in place to protect children. Various training sessions take place in the meetings, including therapeutically-based sessions. Most staff have the required training to understand children’s specific needs. However, some staff have not attended all relevant training courses.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s oversight and organisation of systems have improved. Incident records have a summary sheet to ensure that all tasks have been completed. Children’s files are audited by key workers and overseen by the senior team during bi-monthly audits. The manager has identified areas to improve her monitoring further. This specifically relates to devising an improved system to ensure that all placing authority care plans and case records are obtained and kept up to date on children’s files. Some of these records were not in place at the time of the inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There have been some recent improvements to independent visitor reports. The visitor now ensures that the views of children, staff and families are obtained in relation to the service provided to children. The manager’s quality of care review explains how feedback is obtained from key people. However, it does not include any feedback from children, staff, parents or professionals or the action taken in response to their views to drive improvements. This was a recommendation at the last inspection and has been escalated to a requirement. Inspection report for children's home: SC479654 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

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person should ensure that children’s case records from placing authorities are up to date. Ensure that they escalate requests for the records effectively. This relates to children’s placing authority care plans, personal education plans, annual medical records and statutory review meeting minutes. 15 November 2024

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

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (2)(b) (5)) 15 November 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all incidents of discipline are subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure that their use is fair and a member of the senior team should evaluate the effectiveness of all consequences given to children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36) Inspection report for children's home: SC479654 7  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. Specifically, all staff should undertake training in LGBTQ, self-harm and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder . (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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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: SC479654 8

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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

Cheryl Field, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC479654 9 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 who are looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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