Care commission gives city services clean bill of health

The watchdog has published its new grading system, which awards clear marks to care services to make it easier for people to compare them and track their progress.

The report, Making The Grade, showed that out of 829 care services inspected in Edinburgh, 28.7 per cent were providing a good or excellent service in all areas. Nineteen of those were judged to be excellent.

The report did judge six local services to be "weak", while two more were graded "unsatisfactory" in some areas.

Overall however, the Capital performed marginally better than the national average – Scotland-wide, 25 per cent of all services were good or excellent.

One of the services highlighted for praise was homelessness charity Streetwork, which was graded as excellent in all areas.

Head of services Claire Gibson said: "To have recognition from the Care Commission really boosts staff morale, it's wonderful."

Despite the generally positive report there were eight services which the commission felt needed improvement.

The Care at Home and Housing Support services run by disability charity Leonard Cheshire at Trafalgar Lane, off Ferry Road, received unsatisfactory scores for their quality of care. Among the issues highlighted in inspectors' reports, which are available online, were the need to involve clients more in planning their own care and improved support plans. The services were later reassessed, and their scores upgraded, but only to "weak", which the Care Commission rates officially as "no improvement".

The report includes services provided by the public, private and voluntary sectors and grades them in areas such as quality of care and staffing. The results are based on inspections carried out between April 2008 and March 2009.

Care Commission director Ronnie Hill said: "It is pleasing to note that more than a quarter of all services in Edinburgh achieved grades of five or six.

"It is also encouraging that, out of the services that received ones and twos during the first year, the majority have improved their grades."

City health leader Councillor Paul Edie said: "The Care Commission is not the only form of quality assurance out there, as a council we have got our own in-house quality assurance and I'd like to see that beefed up."

LOW ACHIEVERS

Care Services which received unsatisfactory scores:

Granton Road Respite Service Voluntary sector adult care home: now improved.

25 Bath Street Voluntary sector adult care home: now improved.

Clermiston After School Club Voluntary sector children's day care: now improved.

Mayday Nursery, 75 Viewforth Private children's day care: now improved.

Edinburgh Supported Living South West Local authority housing support: now improved.

Edinburgh Supported Living South West Local authority care at home: now improved.

Trafalgar Lane Voluntary sector care at home: no improvement.

Trafalgar Lane Voluntary sector housing support: no improvement.

Leamington House Nursing Home Private sector care home for older people: now closed.