Care service in Inverness awarded highest grade for compassion
Support provided by a charity that gives care for adults with learning disabilities has been rated excellent by inspectors.
The Care Inspectorate awarded L’Arche Highland the highest possible score for compassion, dignity and respect shown to those in their care.
The report is graded from one to six with one being unsatisfactory and six being excellent. A six is very hard for a care service to achieve but L’Arche managed to show their excellence.
With six the highest score possible the service also received fives across a number of other areas assessed.
Inspectors said the service had a “strong ethos of community and respect for people”.
Manager Lorraine Mackenzie was delighted with the outcome.
“This is amazing, having come through the pandemic and all of the recruitment challenges we face, that we have been assessed to be delivering excellent care and support to the people we support,” she said.
“It is a testament to the resilience and commitment shown by our staff teams over the last couple of years that the quality of care has not faltered.”
Social care has struggled since Covid with many service providers finding it hard to recover after the pandemic and with over 160,000 vacancies across the sector as a whole.
L’Arche Highland is a part of the L’Arche International Movement which assists people with learning disabilities, providing accommodation and support to service users across five shared houses in Inverness as well as supporting those living on their own.
L’Arche Highland leader Chris Gehrke, who joined the team a year ago, said that he “immediately felt there was something special about L’Arche”.
He added: “I have found that to be about the depth and quality of relationships, a sense of belonging that goes beyond inclusion and the joys of community life. I am really proud our staff have been given the highest possible grade for the excellent compassion, dignity and respect they give to our core members”.
