Balmoral Gate Does It Again!

Staff at Balmoral Gate demonstrate 'excellent skills' in their recent inspection from the Care Inspectorate.

Staff at Balmoral Gate have once again received grade 6 'excellent' from the Care Inspectorate.  This is the 9th time overall, and 7th consecutive grade 6 received for the quality of Care and Support the service delivers since grading was introduced in 2008. 

A grade 6 'Excellent' was also awarded for the the Quality of Management and Leadership.  This compliments the grade 5 'Very Good' already awarded for the Quality of Staffing at the previous inspection.

Claire Tallan, Registered Manager wanted to thank all the staff for their hard work, commitment and dedication over the last year, ensuring they consistently delivered such a high quality service. 

She told us that the highlight of the year was a holiday with the Calvert Trust, funded through the organisation's participatory budgeting, in which the people supported are able to vote on how a pot of money is spent (find out more here).

The outdoor adventure holiday provided people with the opportunity to try out new activities and develop transferable skills in a fun and enjoyable way.  People were keen to share their experience with the inspector:

"It was clear that the experience had had a very strong and positive impact on individuals. Apart from the holiday being a lot of fun, they told us they had learnt a lot of team building skills which they were going to try and implement into their day to day living. One person summed it up by saying; 'Having a go at activities that challenged us gave us a real boost to our confidence and self esteem'." Balmoral Gate, Care Inspection Report, January 2019

The service office has also recently undergone an upgrade to help further enhance the environment, with a support practitioner taking the time to share her talents and skills.  They were keen to be finished in time for the award ceremony. Some of the hard work can be seen in the background of the photos.

Austen Smyth, Chief Executive, met with the staff, Team Manager Claire and Area Manager Karen to award them with a glass house in recognition of their achievement.

The full report by the Care Inspectorate can be read here.