South Ayrshire Council News

A Multi-Agency Inspection of Services for People with Learning Disability in Ayrshire, has given positive comments about the way in which services are delivered through partnership working across Ayrshire.

An inspection of the services was carried out by the Social Work Inspection Agency (SWIA), NHS Quality Improvement Scotland, the Care Commission and HMIe between April and June 2006 and a report  issued in March 2007.

The SWIA inspects all functions of Social Work departments, but this was the first pilot inspection where SWIA and the other inspection agencies came together to inspect services for people with learning disabilities across Ayrshire and Arran.

The inspection involved the completion of self-evaluation material; meetings with service users, carers, staff, and managers; scrutiny of approximately ninety case files which formed a representative sample from caseloads in South Ayrshire; visits to specific services to evaluate the quality of the service and discussions with people using the service and evaluation of policies, procedures and strategic direction.

The report stated how well the South Ayrshire Partnership performed in particular areas and graded them from Excellent to Unsatisfactory in the following areas:

Enabling and sustaining independence - Excellent

Promotion and inclusion - Very Good

Safety and protection - Good

Record-keeping and communication - Good

Meeting staff needs - Good

Developing partnership working - Good

Leadership and direction - Good

Financial Resource and Information Management - Good

Lifelong Learning - Good

Capacity for Improvement - Very Good

Councillor Hugh Hunter, the Leader of the Council, Councillor Nan McFarlane, Leader of the SNP group and Councillor Douglas Campbell, Leader of the Labour group jointly commented on the report and said:  “We are delighted that the inspection findings were extremely positive and that the South Ayrshire Partnership is the first in Scotland to have been found to be performing to an excellent standard.  The Partnership does everything it can to help people with a learning disability to retain their independence and to be active citizens in their local communities.  People with learning disabilities and their families and carers will continue to be fully consulted about the way in which services are delivered now and in the future.”

The inspection report made recommendations in their report for the South Ayrshire Partnership indicating that it should:

Increase the number of people with disabilities who get Direct Payments.

Rollout the local area co-ordination service across South Ayrshire.

Increase the number of carers’ assessments it does for carers who care for a person with learning disabilities.

Periodically do an audit of adults with learning disabilities cases to ensure compliance with the recommendations of the SWSI and Mental Welfare Commission Borders Enquiry.

Put in place a system of continuing professional development plans for staff.

Develop a more detailed training course on the protection of vulnerable adults with learning disabilities for staff who do the detailed work protecting vulnerable adults with learning disabilities.

An action plan, developed from the findings of the report will be progressed in order to maintain the high standards already set and to improve on them.