A BORDERS-BASED care service which supports almost 200 older people in their own homes has been given a clean bill of health after a ‘robust action plan’ was implemented.

Homecare East is a support service operated by Scottish Borders Council based at Lanark Lodge at Bridgend in Duns.

It currently provides services across the east of the Scottish Borders, including Kelso, Duns, Coldstream and Eyemouth, to 192 people.

When the Care Inspectorate paid an unannounced visit earlier this year a number of necessary improvements were identified.

Documentation needed to better reflect peoples abilities around choice and control.

The provider also needed to implement systems to monitor changes of positioning, to ensure risks around people’s skin integrity were minimised.

Improvements were required with medication processes to ensure accurate, safe and up to date guidance was provided to staff.

The provider was also required to implement improvements to ensure that personal plans were accurate and available to people and staff.

The service was rated ‘adequate’ in three areas – supporting people’s well-being, leadership and the care and support planned and deemed ‘good’ for its staff team.

When inspectors returned for another unannounced visit from November 7 they found that the necessary improvements had been implemented.

Supported people were happy with their regular staff and had good relationships with them.

People’s health and well-being was being monitored well and a review of training needs was being carried out.

Good improvements had been made to ensure medication was managed well and the quality of the service was being checked more effectively through various internal audits.

The service was rated ‘good’ in all four areas assessed – the staff team, leadership, supporting people’s well-being and the care and support planned.

The report states: “The two outstanding requirements and three areas for improvement had all been met.

“We saw evidence of staff working well together and with their managers in most localities.

“Staff told us they felt supported by their managers who were responsive and available if they needed help.”