The inspection was completed over a three day visit to our outreach, supported living and residential services with inspectors meeting with individuals who access the service, staff and relatives of those we support.

Our outreach service was awarded the top grade of 6 (excellent) on all three aspects assessed during the inspection: Quality of Care and Support, Quality of Staffing and Quality of Management and Leadership. Our supported living service was awarded similarly excellent grades getting 6’s for Quality of Care and Support and Quality of Staffing and a 5 (very good) for Quality of Environment.

Summarising our outreach service, the report concluded: “This is an excellent service. The people who use this service were able to make the most of the opportunities available to them to achieve their personal outcomes. The people we spoke with were very happy about the quality of the care provided and the staff who supported them.”

Our outreach service can be provided to support individuals to access social and leisure activities or to liaise with other agencies in relation to training, employment and social welfare support. One of the individuals who is supported by our central outreach team is Michael. The purpose of Michael’s support is to source activities that he would enjoy, however, it was found that he struggled to communicate what he would like to do.

A visual timetable was developed to support Michael to make choices regarding his outreach support. For this he sources imaged from the internet to represent what he would like to do and in doing so was able to communicate to staff that he would like to have a job, allowing staff to begin sourcing volunteering opportunities for him. A placement at the Royal Voluntary Service at Falkirk Community Hospital was found and Michael became involved in their cafe and in maintaining their gardens. Through this opportunity Michael has grown in confidence and his ability to make decisions in his day has improved considerably. Michael’s social skills have also developed and he has become a key part of the volunteer team, as well as his wider community.

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Michael enjoys his placement at Falkirk Community Hospital

Michael’s mum Julie commented: “Michael has continued to grow in independence since attending Scottish Autism three years ago. He joined the Royal Voluntary Service last year with the support of Scottish Autism staff and he continues to receive rave reviews from the people he works with… He is becoming a young man and more importantly is extremely proud of himself.”