A learning disability service run by Aberdeen City Health & Social Care Partnership has won high praise from Scotland’s care watchdog.
The Care Inspectorate has rated Learning Disability Integrated Care Services as “very good” for both its quality of care and support and its quality of staffing following an unannounced inspection in July.
The service provides housing support and care-at-home services for people with a learning disability who live in their own homes. Most of the support is provided to people who stay in four custom-built housing complexes and the service also supports some who stay in individual accommodation.
ACHSCP Chief Officer Sandra Ross said: “The housing support and care-at-home teams epitomise our ethos of providing caring, person-centred and enabling care, which contributes so much to the wellbeing of our citizens with learning disabilities.
“The Care Inspectorate has recognised the extremely high quality of the care we provide to some of the most vulnerable people in the city. It is a credit to the teams involved, who are fully focused on providing the right care, in the right place, at the right time.”
The inspection report says of the service: “We found it to be of a very good standard. We saw warm relationships between people, relaxed atmospheres and a helpful, team spirit.
“We visited most of the accommodation complexes and spoke with people who use the service, staff, relatives and a visiting nurse. Everyone was generally happy with the support, with comments such as ‘staff are very welcoming and competent, my daughter is treated as an individual’ and ‘from the first visit, advice has been taken on board promptly, standards seem good’.”
The report adds: “People had activity timetables to help them and the staff knew what they planned to do each day. Where there were specific requirements for staff involvement to enable this to happen, there were clear guidelines.
“As well as a lot of individual activities, people were encouraged to socialise with their friends in their home and the garden areas, holding group barbecues, encouraging relaxed and social mealtimes.”
The inspectors also studied support plans and reviews for people using the service and noted: “These were very thorough and showed how the multi-disciplinary team was involved and advice was followed on a daily basis. We were able to see how people were involved in developing the service plan as well as their individual plans.
“This attention to risk assessment, planning and advocacy for people meant that everyone using this service could have an expectation that their individuality and rights would be respected and pursued.
“We saw staff who knew people well, had good working relationships, were relaxed and worked well as a cohesive team. This meant that people received consistent and caring support and everyone understood how to help each other cope with any distress.
“This was helped by really clear behavioural guidelines which kept people safe from harm and encouraged positive risk taking within clear parameters.”
The Care Inspectorate placed no requirements on the service following their visit and made no recommendations for further action.