INSPECTORS have confirmed that improvements have been made at an Inverclyde support service for adults with learning disabilities, following previous ‘adequate’ ratings.

Local authority health and social care bosses were ordered to raise their game after Care Inspectorate officials assessed the services on offer to 23 people who live at James Watt Court or who are supported by outreach staff at the Fitzgerald Centre in Greenock.

The service was rated 'adequate' in each of the four areas inspected - service users’ wellbeing; leadership; the staff team; and care and support plans - with a series of requirements imposed earlier this year.

A total of six requirements were made by the watchdog, including that the provider ‘must ensure that effective methods are in place to support the evidence-based assessment and planning of staffing levels and deployment’.

A follow-up inspection in August, which graded the staff team as ‘good’, found that improvement was ‘evident in all required areas’, leading to people's needs ‘being met more effectively’.

The latest report said: “Medication administration and recording had improved, which enhanced consistency of support to people.

READ MORE: Inverclyde Council ordered to improve services for adults with learning disabilities

“The management team had a clear oversight of staff registrations with their regulatory body, ensuring all staff were registered as required.

“The management team had developed a clear overview of assessed support needs which linked to staffing requirements.

“This ensured that people's needs were able to be met by the staff team.

“To inform people of their upcoming support, the staff team developed pictorial timetables which were being updated daily.”

The other requirements are yet to be assessed or re-evaluated.

Inverclyde Learning Disability Support and Care at Home Service enables people with learning disabilities to live in their own homes throughout the district.

The service is operated on a 24/7 basis, with three elements, including two supported living services and a dispersed service supporting people in their individual tenancies across the region.

In a report prepared for a meeting of the council’s social work and social care scrutiny panel earlier this year, director Kate Rocks said some of the key messages from the initial report were that management and staff ‘develop meaningful relationships with people and they are supported to participate in a wide range of community activities’.