An Ayrshire children’s home has been handed a positive report from the Care Inspectorate.
Foxhill Cottage, based in Stair, was rated ‘very good’ and ‘good’ across several quality indicators.
The service cares for five young people aged between 10 and 20 years of age, while the nearby Chestnut Cottage provides accommodation for a further one young person.
The service is provided by Spark of Genius (Training) Ltd and operates a 24-hour service, 52 weeks of the year.
It provides residential accommodation for young people while their educational needs are met through attendance at Spark of Genius learning centres, or within mainstream education.
At the time of the inspection, there were four young people living in Foxhill Cottage and one young person living in Chestnut Cottage.
An extract from the Care Inspectorate report said: “We met all of the young people living in Foxhill and Chestnut Cottage. They told us that they felt very well cared for and that they were very settled and happy within the house.
“We found very meaningful and secure relationships between young people and staff. We saw young people being compassionately cared for when they needed support and we also saw them having fun and relaxing with staff.
“It was clear from our discussions with the young people that they had someone to turn to.”
Management of medication had improved since the last inspection with the Care Inspectorate noting: “At the last inspection, we found immediate improvements were required with the management of medication. These improvements had been implemented and maintained.”
The young people also experienced a “varied and healthy diet” that was “tasty” and they “enjoyed the food,” according to the report.
The report goes on: “Added to this, the house facilitated opportunities for the young people to engage in physical activities.
"And when young people needed support in the midst of crisis, we found low levels of restraint being used.”
Among the areas of improvements, the Care Inspectorate has asked that, following incidents, debriefs “should always occur” and “should involve the young person,” because it should lead to actions “focused on improving how young people are cared” for “when they are finding things difficult.”
Leadership and the setting of the house were rated as ‘very good’ while planned care, staff levels and supporting young people’s wellbeing were all rated ‘good.’
One slight concern, from the children’s perspectives, were that some key members of staff were leaving the home.
The Care Inspectorate said: “The service has undertaken a staffing needs analysis. Up until the point of this inspection, staffing levels had been very stable.
“However, the service needs to continue recruiting high quality people on a rolling basis to ensure that the young people continue to have their needs fully met by people with the rights skills, values and expertise.”
Don't miss the latest Ayrshire headlines – sign up to our free daily newsletter here
