Joint inspection finds services for children performing well in East Ayrshire

Services for children and young people in East Ayrshire are performing well and delivering very good outcomes for children, young people and their families, inspectors have said.

Across nine quality indicators used to assess the effectiveness of the partnership, inspectors graded two as ‘excellent’ with a further five found to be ‘very good’ and two ‘ good’.

It follows a joint inspection of services for children and young people in the East Ayrshire Community Planning Partnership.

The inspection was carried out by the Care Inspectorate with Education Scotland, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland between August and November 2017.

Inspectors looked at how well a wide range of services were working together to make a positive difference to the lives of children, young people and their families. Inspectors interviewed staff, senior officers and young people, visited services, and carried out a structured review of individual children and young people’s case records.

Some specially-trained young inspector volunteers aged 18 to 24, who have personal experience of using care services, met young people, listening to what matters to them, and had the chance to probe agencies about what they were doing to improve the quality of care for other young people.

Karen Reid, chief executive of the Care Inspectorate said: “We are confident that the wellbeing and life chances of children and young people growing up in East Ayrshire are improving as a result of robust and collective leadership by partners to deliver services that work together well.

“Investment in early intervention and prevention is having a positive impact on the wellbeing of families. Despite significant challenges associated with high levels of poverty and deprivation, we saw positive outcomes through joined up, universal and targeted approaches.

“These approaches are ensuring children and young people are safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible and included. Families were much more resilient and confident as a result of experiencing flexible and reliable support from an extensive range of accessible and high-quality services. Children and young people were encouraged to have a voice and to give their views on a wide range of topics. Getting it Right for Every Child principles have supported a shared understanding and strong culture of collaborative working which helps to support families early.

“Education, social work, health and the police should continue to strengthen the way they plan their work together and ensure it is high quality. They should also maintain the emphasis on improving the life chances of looked after children and young people, especially those looked after at home.”

The full inspection report is available here:  http://cinsp.in/2G72PMQ