Rutland County Council's Community Support Services have been rated 'good' overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Community Support Services provide personal care to older and younger adults living with a physical disabilities, mental health conditions and learning disabilities.

Staff who deliver these services help people to live independently in their own homes or in supported living accommodation and provide round-the-clock care, 365 days a year.

The scheduled inspection ranked the services in five key areas. Four were found to be good - safe, effective, responsive and well-led - with caring deemed to be outstanding. Council staff were praised for being 'exceptionally caring' and treating service users with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

Councillor Alan Walters, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health, said: "This is a really positive report and a credit to our staff, who work incredibly hard to provide the best possible standard of care for people living in Rutland.

"The professionals who make up our Community Support Services are incredibly dedicated.

"Collectively and individually, they truly care about the people they support and I'm extremely pleased that this is reflected in the CQC's report."

Rutland County Council's Community Support Services are delivered by a team of some 30 specialist staff who provide care for around 20 service users with a wide variety of needs. This can include dementia, eating disorders, sensory impairments and substance misuse, as well as learning disabilities, mental health conditions and physical disabilities.

As part of its inspection, the CQC spoke with service users and their families, together with staff and senior managers at the council, and highlighted the following key points:

• People received outstanding care from staff who were kind, compassionate and passionate in supporting them to live fulfilling lives

• The service provides training and voluntary opportunities to give people skills and experience to support them into employment

• Where people had communication difficulties, the service adapted to the individual to make sure they were included and listened to and able to express themselves

• People received safe care – risk assessments were reviewed regularly and staff were well trained to recognise and report signs of abuse

"An important part of caring for people is listening to what they want and then being willing to make changes or put new processes in place to meet their needs.

"This is key to our ability to provide genuinely personalised services that fit around individuals and support them to live fulling lives, regardless of any disability or impairment.

"Again, I'm really pleased that this has been recognised by the inspectors, because it makes a huge difference," added Coun Walters.

The CQC carried out the inspection between 29 March and 1 April 2019.