Balhousie Care Group has rebranded its Advanced Specialist Care (ASC) unit, a residential facility for adults with learning disabilities, creating a new brand with input from the people living at the facility.
The Perthshire-based specialist unit is now called ‘Accepting. Supporting. Citizenship’, keeping the initials the same but with a stronger focus on the personalised care received.
Linking closely with Balhousie Care Group’s drive to deliver person-centred care across all its care homes and its Participation Charter, which offers residents and service users a bigger say in the care they receive, the ASC unit has worked closely with the people living in their care to rename the unit to reflect its people, their beliefs and the service being provided.
This exciting rebranding has coincided with two of the units at ASC, Dalguise and Orchard Court, being awarded two top Grade 6 ratings after a visit from the Care Inspectorate.
The ASC units have been awarded an ‘excellent’ rating of Grade 6 for both ‘Care and Support’ and ‘Management and Leadership’ after introducing person-centred enhancements to their pre-admission processes and creating additional support staff positions to increase the range of indoor and outdoor activities available to service users.
The Care Inspectorate’s visit captured how “relaxed and happy” service users are with families commenting that they have “no concerns” and find the staff “highly vigilant” and “responsive”. 
One service user said they feel “safe” and another spoke about helping to “build the swing seats”. ASC is unique in that it is the only residential facility of its kind in Scotland providing a secure, private home for people with behavioural needs in a community orientated, non-clinical environment.
Having transformed the facility into a person-centred environment, giving service-users a key voice in the decision making and running of the unit, including the rebranding, Heather Smith, Operations Manager at Balhousie’s ASC unit, is delighted to see ASC’s progress acknowledged by the Care Inspectorate.
She said:
“We are beyond thrilled with our fantastic Grade 6s from the Care Inspectorate after their recent visit. ASC is the only residential facility of its kind in Scotland and pride ourselves on being able to provide a secure home for people with behavioural needs in a community orientated and non-clinical environment. High accolades like this only come about through exceptional team work and everyone at ASC has played a role in this achievement. Our rebranding reflects our strong focus on ‘Care and Support’ which has been acknowledged by the Care Inspectorate. High accolades like this only come about through exceptional team work and everyone at ASC has played a role in this achievement.”
Heather added:
“It has been a wonderful process working closely with our service users and staff to consider what makes our ASC unit special and capture our environment in our branding. The people living here are the beating heart of the unit and it is important to us that they have a say in the big decisions and changing our brand is one of them.”
Louise Barnett, Director of Operations at Balhousie Care Group, commented:
“The work Heather and the team at ASC have carried out to achieve two Grade 6 ratings is truly outstanding. As one of Balhousie’s more challenging facilities, its transformation into a person-centred environment where service users are happy, stimulated and feel safe and ‘at home’ is remarkable. The ASC team has demonstrated consistently excellent standards of care which has had a hugely positive impact on the lives of the people living there and their families. The rebranding is another example of how exceptional the ASC team is at empowering their service users and giving them a say in key decisions about the facility.”
