High praise for staff from customers – and a focus on delivering the right kind of bespoke support – has allowed a specialist housing development in Ayr to maintain its high accreditation from Scotland’s care regulator.
Blackwood Housing and Care’s St. Leonard’s Court has received a five star grading from The Care Inspectorate for care given to older people, people with physical disabilities and learning disabilities at the development.
St. Leonard’s Court has been awarded a ‘Very Good’ for the second year in a row for the quality of the care and support given to their customers as well as the quality of staffing.
The development supports 14 people living in accessible flats and seeks to involve those using the service in many of its decisions, to enable Blackwood to continuously develop the high quality of support provided.
Those surveyed shared how they were “very satisfied” and “very happy” with the service by Blackwood.
One shared: “The workers are great. Help me in all sorts of ways. I’m very happy here” and another said: “Very happy with staff. Good laugh but respectful”.
The report also highlighted the excellent service provided by Blackwood, with customers personally knowing the staff and becoming more confident in their abilities and look forward to their visits, with the service having a positive impact on many lives.
In the report, several respondents particularly celebrated Blackwood’s bespoke CleverCogs™ system, which enables customers to see which staff would be visiting and when. One customer showed the care inspectorate how they used the technology to keep fit.
CleverCogs™ is a digitally enhanced care system, which allows customers to communicate with carers, as well as friends and family, and also gives users control over their support and care.
Angela Currie, Operations Director at Blackwood, said: “It is excellent to hear that St. Leonard’s Court has upheld its grade for a second year in a row, and it is even better to hear how much this service is making a positive difference to our customer’s lives.
“Our housing and care services aim to help people to live their life to the fullest, to hear our customer’s feedback on CleverCogs™ is especially encouraging and shows the real impact this technology is having.
“This recognition from the Care Inspectorate is extremely rewarding and is a testament to our hard working and dedicated members of staff.”
The Care Inspectorate report also highlighted Blackwood’s innovative support plans, stating: “The support plans are tailored around an individual and their specific support needs with reviews made regular has enabled people to feel listened to and involved in the review process.
“This approach has been found to be successful as it ensures the right care is continued to be delivered in the right way at the right time. “
St. Leonard’s Court is a small, modern housing development situated off St. Leonard’s Road on the south side of Ayr and just a mile from the town centre.
Since it was founded in 1972 by Dr Margaret Blackwood, Blackwood has pioneered housing and care by continuously innovating and utilising technology to help people live as independently as possible.
Blackwood aims to help people live their life to the full, by providing services which support individuals in exercising their right to have choice and control over their lives in a home which is suitable to their needs.
As Blackwood works in 29 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities, it is more widely dispersed than most other care or housing providers and has embraced the challenges of taking housing and care into innovative areas at a time when funding is increasingly limited.
For more information, please visit: https://www.blackwoodgroup.org.uk
