Children's Home run by Bluestones Medical Complex Care Limited in Warrington

Inspection report for children’s home: 2825588 1 Registered provider: Bluestones Medical Complex Care 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

This home is privately run and provides care for up to one child with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Three children have lived at the home since the last inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

No children were living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

There is currently no registered manager. An interim manager is responsible for the day- to-day running of the home.

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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: 2825588 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/08/2025 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2825588 3

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Summary of findings

Since the last inspection, 3 children have lived at the home. Children’s views are regularly sought and used to shape activities and care planning.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers’ safeguarding arrangements support risk management, and responses to incidents are reflective. However, their oversight of admission assessments requires improvement.

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Summary of findings

The manager and deputy manager provide good leadership, fostering a positive and child-focused staff culture.

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Summary of findings

Staff receive regular supervision and team meetings. However, their annual appraisals do not currently include children’s views, representing a missed opportunity to further strengthen practice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, 3 children have lived at the home. Staff were preparing for the arrival of a new child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is welcoming and features a large living space, dining room and garden. Staff welcome children to the home with a hamper and children are given opportunities to individualise their bedrooms ahead of their arrival.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Prior to moving into the home, staff support children to visit the home. Children meet staff and have opportunities to develop relationships with their key workers. This helps children settle on their arrival. When children leave the home, their time at the home is celebrated and they have opportunities to access activities of their choice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff gather children’s views on a weekly basis, allowing them to explore their interests. As a result, children have opportunities to access a variety of activities, such as going to the gym, skateboarding parks and local restaurants.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the significance of the children spending time with people who are important to them. Family time is supported, which secures children’s sense of self and identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to attend education settings. The manager works with external agencies to ensure that any barriers to children’s learning are addressed. When children’s education needs are not met, the manager advocates for children and escalates her concerns to the relevant people. Inspection report for children’s home: 2825588 4 Staff support children in developing their independence skills. Children contribute to meal planning and are encouraged to take part in meal preparation. Children are also rewarded for completing life skills that will support them as they get older.

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

Children are appropriately safeguarded. This is supported by the use of thorough risk assessments that staff regularly review. When incidents occur, managers take swift and appropriate action. On the occasion that staff use a physical intervention, thorough debriefs are completed with both the child and staff involved to reflect on the incident and identify any learning to inform future practice.

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

Ahead of children’s arrivals in the home, staff complete assessments to assess their suitability. However, some documents do not always feature sufficient management evaluation. The manager recognises that this is a shortfall in practice.

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

Children have individualised care plans that are strength based and include children’s views. Staff use plans that help them to identify the focus of children’s direct work. This includes key topics such as safe relationships, substance misuse and exploitation. Staff evaluate children’s progress at team meetings and they share updated information at daily handover meetings.

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

Staff develop clear and appropriate boundaries and routines to provide children with structure and consistency of care. When children go missing from home, staff respond promptly and effectively. Return home interviews and follow-up support are offered to ensure that children can explore the reasons for leaving.

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

Children benefit from child-centred key-work sessions that focus on their individual needs. This includes direct work related to criminal exploitation, safe relationships and substance misuse. Staff have completed training linked to children’s individual needs and use research to inform their practice. As a result, children’s diverse needs are understood and risks mitigated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is a committed leader who is appropriately skilled and qualified. She is supported by a deputy manager who shares her commitment to promoting child-centred practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staffing is arranged to ensure balance in experience, gender and skills. New staff receive a thorough induction and support to gain relevant qualifications. Staff speak of a supportive culture that fosters strong morale.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have systems in place to help monitor and drive improvement. The registered manager responds well to recommendations from the independent visitor and keeps all documentation current and reviewed. The language used in records is Inspection report for children’s home: 2825588 5 trauma-informed, and children’s daily logs offer valuable insights into their experiences and progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

When children’s time in the home has ended prematurely, managers carry out evaluations to assess any areas for development. This encourages reflection across the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervision and team meetings occur regularly. Staff value these opportunities to feed back and report feeling listened to by leaders.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Annual appraisals are completed. However, these lack the views of children. This is a missed opportunity capture the views of key stakeholders within staff professional development. Inspection report for children’s home: 2825588 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 care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the manager should ensure that thorough assessments of children’s needs are completed ahead of children’s arrival in the home. 24 October 2026

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Recommendation

 The responsible person should ensure that all staff have their performance and fitness to carry out their role formally appraised at least once annually. This appraisal should take into account, where reasonable and practical, the views of other professionals who have worked with the staff member over the year and children in the home’s care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.5)

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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 Inspection report for children’s home: 2825588 7 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: 2825588 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Bluestones Medical Complex Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Chester Business Centre, Union Street, Chester, Cheshire CH1 1QP

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Patricia Stratford

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Inspector

Jon Dutton, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2825588 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 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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