“Fun and laughter” highlighted during an inspection of a Hawick day service

“Fun and laughter” was highlighted during a recent inspection of a Hawick day service which earlier this year celebrated its 50th birthday.

The Katharine Elliot Centre (KEC) at Howdenbank is registered to provide community support and support at home for 34 adults with physical and learning disabilities.

On October 25 a representative of the Care Inspectorate paid an unannounced visit to the service, which is operated by Scottish Borders Council.

The inspector gave it a ringing endorsement, noting that people were “very relaxed and it was clear staff knew them well”.

The attendees were encouraged to be independent and there was “lots of fun and laughter during activities”.

Overall the service was rated ‘very good’ for supporting well-being, leadership, its staff team and the quality of care and support, and also ‘good’ for its setting.

The report states: “People experienced compassion, dignity and respect from a staff team who knew them well.

“Staff nurtured people’s independence through encouragement of choice and recognition of people’s skills.

“One relative told us ‘x never used to join in but now can’t wait to go to the centre’ and another said ‘we can see how much more independent they are now’.

“There was a calm and relaxed atmosphere when we visited with lots of laughter. We could see people were enjoying their day and told us they were happy.”

Last month over 60 service users, staff, family carers and other invited guests gathered at the centre for a 50th birthday bash.

A Rowan tree was chosen to plant in honour of Baroness Katharine Elliot of Harwood after whom the centre was named.