North Ayrshire's new residential family rehab facility has received 'very good' ratings after a Care Inspectorate visit.

Harper House, which opened in Saltcoats last year, was ranked very good for 'setting' and 'care and support planning' after the unannounced inspection in June.

They also received 'good' rankings for the leadership and the staff team.

The only downside was an 'adequate' ranking for supporting wellbeing, which related to an issue with management of medicine.

But the report revealed the problem was already being rectified during the inspection.

The facility was opened by the then First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, in November.

In their report, the Care Inspectorate said their key points were: 

• Management and staff knew each resident well and were very good at building positive relationships with residents and families.

• Staff were highly motivated and focussed on achieving good outcomes for people.

• Staff skilfully used their knowledge of people to minimise risks.

• Leaders were knowledgeable about aspects of the service which required improvement, to enhance consistency and quality of support.

• Quality assurance systems that are in place could be used more effectively to demonstrate the service's improvement journey.

• Medication administration and auditing requires improving.

Phoenix Futures Harper House provides residential rehabilitation for parents (or expectant women) who wish to address their problematic drug and/or alcohol use.

The service provides a therapeutic community environment for up to 20 families, giving families the opportunity to stay together during this time.

North Ayrshire was selected as the location for the Scottish Government backed service due to the high level of addiction problems in the area, though families come to Harper House from across Scotland.

On the medication issue, the report stated: "Systems are in place to support the safe management of medication, however this needs to work to ensure there is clear records of medication prescribed, held and supported by the service.

"Information in relation to medication recording was inconsistent and requires improving for the safety of people.

"The service began rectifying this throughout the course of the inspection."

Other key findings from the report include: "Throughout the inspection, we found the environment to be clean, well maintained and homely, reflecting the needs of people living there.

"Within each unit there was age appropriate toys and personal equipment for the children. There was good garden space for community members and their families to enjoy.

"Part of the therapeutic programme involved garden maintenance, growing vegetables etc, which we observed over the course of our visit."

Kerry McGhee, Registered Residential Services Manager at Harper House, said: “Phoenix Futures Scotland is pleased with the outcome of this rating and, as as noted, has already addressed the issue mentioned.

"Harper House is vital in helping families stay together, by giving parents the support and care their families need to lead happy and healthy lives.”