A CARE facility in Helensburgh for children and young people has been rated ‘very good’ by watchdogs in an official report.

The Care Inspectorate gave the grades – the second-highest available – to the Helensburgh Children’s Unit following an unannounced inspection in September.

The service – known locally as East King Street, where the unit is based – is registered to provide care for up to six children and young people.

The grades were awarded following inspections of the quality of care and support, and the quality of management and leadership, at the service.

It’s the eighth unannounced inspection in a row at which the unit, which is run by Argyll and Bute Council on behalf of the area’s health and social care partnership (HSCP), has received ‘very good’ grades from inspectors.

The report stated: “We spoke individually with five young people who were happy to share their experiences of living at East King Street.

“Some spoke of their lives outwith the service and how this helped them to maximise their relationships with others who were important to them.

“Some young people explained how their jobs helped them to afford to plan for holidays and to lead their lives in the community with friends and partners.

“We heard from other young people that they were happy with the supports they received and that the service was ‘OK’, but that they had a life with their friends and that they spent much of their time at college or ‘out and about’.

“Some felt that some of the rules relating to how they could spend their time with friends in the community, were unfair, while others commented that ‘it’s an OK place, but I’d rather not be here’.

“Within the context of our discussion, we took this to mean that this young person preferred to be in a family situation, rather than group living.

“For some young people, East King Street had been their home for many years and it was clear that they felt a strong sense of belonging and positive regard for their individual experience of living at the service.

“For other young people who had been placed more recently, there was some evidence of those young people beginning to develop positive routines.”

The report’s author said the service should “review current practices in relation to the understanding and use of consequences”, as a way of teaching young people to make more positive choices, and that current practices for reporting young people as ‘missing’ should be applied more consistently than at present.

However, the inspectors made no formal recommendations or requirements for further action at the end of their report.

Paul Kyle, the Argyll and Bute HSCP’s children’s services locality manager for Helensburgh and Lomond, said: “I am delighted for the staff and young people at the Helensburgh Children’s Unit.

“This is the eighth consecutive year they have received ‘very good’ grades which really highlights that we have dedicated staff who are making a real positive difference to the lives of the young people and it also reflects well on the motivation of the young people themselves.”