Inspection gives welcome reassurance to service users
Tuesday, October 11 2005
Scottish Borders Council and NHS Borders have warmly welcomed the publication of the report into the joint inspection of services in the Borders for people with learning disabilities, carried out during the summer by the Social Work Inspection Agency (SWIA) and the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland.
The Inspection was undertaken to verify the outcomes of the action plans put in place to improve services following the well-publicised
cases of mistreatment of vulnerable adults in the Borders in 2002.
The report was launched at a presentation to social work and health staff and managers, carers and service users, held at
Tweed Horizons on Tuesday 11 October.
Welcoming the report, SBC Chief Executive David Hume said: "There have been several far reaching investigations into what
went wrong in Social Work and Health Services in the recent past and those investigations produced a large number of recommendations.
SBC and NHS Borders responded with rigorous far-reaching action plans to improve practice and to assure service users that
they are in safe and caring hands. I believe that this inspection has been very thorough and service users and the public
can be re-assured that our services for people with learning disabilities have now been proved to be amongst the best in Scotland.
Chief Executive of NHS Borders, John Glennie, said: "I welcome this rigorous and systematic review of our learning disability
services. We gave a commitment to implementing the recommendations of the Mental Welfare Commission Inquiry and I am pleased
that the excellent progress made by our staff has been recognised in this report. The report highlights the advances that
we have made at every level of our organisations in delivering improved care to meet the needs of this vulnerable group.
However, we are not complacent. We have further to go but we believe that we have made good progress."
SBC Social Work Portfolio Holder Councillor Carolyn Riddell-Carre said: "I am extremely pleased by the findings of this very
thorough joint inspection. As the portfolio holder for community care services and the local member for Scott's View I have
been determined to see these important services return to the standing that local people expect. Of course there is always
more to do and we are not complacent, but I am confident that people in the Scottish Borders can once more be assured that
services to our most vulnerable residents are back in good order.
Director of Social Work Andrew Lowe: "This is an enormously important inspection as it validates the tremendous improvement
effort made by local agencies working together. It is also important because of the manner of the inspection which fully involved
people with learning disabilities and carers.
Mr Lowe continued: "We do need, however, constantly to recognise the commitment which is required in terms of both staff and
money resources to make protection a reality. The report highlights the considerable additional investment made available
by Scottish Borders Council and NHS Borders. We hope that the increased national profile that will result from this report
and the 21st Century Review of Social Work will ensure that appropriate resources are provided nationally."
David Tawse, People First representative, was part of the local response team. He said: "It felt good to be part of the inspection.
It was the first time I had come across this sort of inspection and people with a learning disability having such an important
job. It (the inspection) was done really well. Everything was really well organised. People with a learning disability
should be involved and were involved. People get more involved in things now."
"We recognise that there is still more to do," said Mr Hume. "We believe the evidence in the report throws light on the
tremendous journey of achievement for all involved in a very short space of time, and we hope that the publication of the
report will draw a line in the sand. Services for people with learning disabilities in the Borders are now at least as good
as any others in Scotland and our commitment to the involvement of carers and service users is second to none. We believe
that not only can service users and their carers be reassured about the services they will receive, but that the people of
the Borders should be aware that we have been shown to have followed the action plans we put in place, that we have done what
we said we would do and that we have made certain that the risk of similar cases occurring in the future has been reduced
to the absolute minimum possible.
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