Quality care standards
The Care Commission's assessment of Birchwood Highland
The Care Commission was set up in April 2002 under the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act to regulate all adult, child and independent healthcare services in Scotland. It makes sure that care service providers meet the Scottish Government's National Care Standards and works to improve the quality of care.
The Care Commission's assessment of Birchwood Highland's Housing Support Service on 4th December 2009 awarded grade sixes in all the areas they looked at - the highest ratings available.
Birchwood Highland Recovery Centre achieved grade sixes in all areas for the third year running, following an unnanounced visit by the Care Commission in January 2011.
Emily Stokes-Reid, Chief Executive, commented: "These ratings were warmly welcomed by all at Birchwood Highland as formal recognition of the excellent work that staff do on a daily basis."
Social WorkCare and Social Work Improvement Scotland (SCSWIS)
On April 1st, Social Work Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (SCSWIS) became the new unified independent scrutiny and improvement body for care and children's services. They regulate and inspect care services and carry out social work and child protection inspections. The Care Commission and the Social Work Inspection Agency (SWIA) no longer exist and responsibility for elements of the work they did has passed SCSWIS.
Care Service Inspections
Since April 2008 regulated care services in Scotland have been inspected using a framework of quality themes and quality statements. Services have been given grades based on the findings at each inspection. Inspection findings are published in reports and can be found in the archive section of the SCSWIS website.
SCSWIS will continue this approach to inspection during 2011/2012.
The grading system will continue to use the six point grading scale. The main changes to inspections in 2011/2012 are:
- The use of unannounced inspections
- A greater maximum period between inspections for better performing and lower risk services
- Changes to the letters notifying providers to complete their self assessments
- A greater focus on poorly performing and riskier services
The new organisation's website address is http://www.scswis.com/index.php
Promoting and supporting recovery
As a member of the Scottish Recovery Network and the more recently formed Highland Recovery Network , Birchwood Highland is committed to promoting and supporting recovery from long-term mental health problems.
We work to the 10 Essential Shared Capabilities (Scotland) - learning materials developed by NHS Education for Scotland (NES). They are relevant to people in all roles and settings who are involved in mental health work - including service users, families and carers, managers, practitioners, volunteers, peer support workers and all workers within the wider mental health community. Working through the activities has helped us develop our recovery-focused approach to mental health.
Wellness Recovery Action Planning (WRAP)
WRAP is a 'self-management tool' used in many countries around the world to help individuals take more control over their wellbeing and recovery; recognising that people are the experts on themselves. We aim to provide WRAP training to all our support staff.
We audit our services against the Scottish Recovery Indicator, a mental health service development tool. This tool has been designed by the Scottish Recovery Network to help mental health services ensure that their activities are focused on supporting the recovery of the people who use their services. In doing so it highlights issues in relation to inclusion, rights, equality and diversity.