Joy of six as Inverness charity meets demands
A HIGHLAND-wide service which was set up to assist tenants to furnish a home, manage their own tenancies and minimise the risk of them losing their homes has received the highest possible rating by the Care Inspectorate for its work.
In management and leadership and quality of care provided to service users, inspectors gave the New Start Highland housing support service an excellent grade.
“This is the sixth year we have had a perfect report for our work – it’s very humbling indeed,” said the charity’s chief executive James Dunbar, who runs the service from Carse Industrial Estate in Inverness.
“We are delighted again to receive such a positive report and it’s a reflection of the great work of our team meeting the needs of the people we serve.”
Mr Dunbar was the only staff member when New Start was launched in 2000 to identify gaps in services for people experiencing vulnerability moving from homelessness into permanent accommodation.
The charity now employs 70 people with depots in Inverness, Thurso, Wick, Invergordon and Dingwall and in the past year it has donated furniture to more than 1000 people.
Users have said how staff emphasised with their needs and described the support as fantastic.
Since 2013, the Care Inspectorate has given New Start Highland excellent ratings in all areas under review from staffing to management and the care and support provided.
“Staff we spoke with are clearly dedicated to their work in all aspects of service provision. Staff were well trained and well supported by a structured management team,” said inspectors, who added staff often were faced with many challenges particularly working with people from other countries and cultures which staff had to learn about.
“People who used the service and other agencies spoke highly of the staff. The service was led by a strong management team.
“All in all we found that New Start Highland was operating to an excellent standard and was exceeding the expectations of the Health and Social Care Standards.”
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