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BWA receives unannounced inspection by the Care Inspectorate

The Care Inspectorate’s unannounced inspection took place on 13 and 14 November 2024. The inspection was carried out by one inspector from the Care Inspectorate. To prepare for the inspection they reviewed information about the service. This included previous inspection findings, registration information, information submitted by the service and intelligence gathered since the last inspection. In making their evaluations of the service, the Care Inspectorate:

• spoke with five women using the service
• spoke with four staff and management
• observed practice and daily life
• reviewed documents and records
• reviewed survey responses from four external professionals and seven members of staff

To ensure that care and support is consistent with the Health and Social Care Standards (HSCS), the Care Inspectorate set out two key areas of improvement. Steps are already in place to work on these areas to ensure that BWA continues to provide women with high quality support. 

Service Manager, Carol Walker said “We were delighted to hear an inspector from the Care Inspectorate recently praise Borders Women’s Aid for providing ‘high quality support that was tailored’ to women’s ‘own experiences, needs and wishes’, and say that ‘trusting and reliable relationships with staff within the service’ were successfully being created. BWA, the only domestic abuse service in the Scottish Borders which is run by women for women, has helped hundreds of women to live better lives. In 2024 alone, BWA supported 6 women in refuge and 184 women through its growing outreach service.  We already know how good our staff team are. To quote just one among many commendations from our clients, ‘I will be forever grateful for the kind and helpful support during a very traumatic time. You are all amazing in helping women.’ But it was fantastic to have this endorsed by the inspector, who found our staff team to be ‘committed, passionate’ and sharing ‘a depth and breadth of skill and experience’. “