Staff at a support service in Catrine for people with autism have won praise from Scotland's care watchdog - but inspectors say there are still improvements to be made.

Daldorch House was rated 'good' across the board following an unannounced visit by the Care Inspectorate.

The service, which is run by the National Autistic Society (NAS), provides support to adults who have autism.

It was previously used a school for children and young people with autism.

The watchdog paid a five-day visit to the service in May and has now published its findings.

The service's support for people's wellbeing, leadership, staff team and care and support planning were all rated 'good' following the inspectors' visit.

Their report mentions a number of strengths, including how people's physical and mental needs were consistently supported and the positive relationships staff have built.

The report stated: "People appreciate the good and supportive relationships between staff and the people they supported and their families.

"Families praised the kind and compassionate attitude of staff and were happy with the way staff kept them informed and involved.

"This helped people to achieve good outcomes and to have a sense of confidence in the service, which supported their wellbeing."

The report also highlighted how people's support plans were consistently person-centred to make sure that staff were informed how to best support each individual and ensure their wishes and aspirations were heard.

Inspectors found that managers at the facility were open to feedback and understood the home's strengths and what needed to be improved.

They said: "Managers had an ongoing service development plan with timelines, allocated responsibilities, and evidence of regular review.

"We found that the service development plan should be further improved by clearer descriptions of the problems or improvement ideas, and by adding more information about how managers will know if the planned improvement has been achieved.

"We discussed this with the managers and identified it as an area for improvement."

The report highlighted feedback from families over staffing levels at the facility, which resulted in a lack of regular activities outside of the premises.

It added: "Managers were aware of this feedback and had plans to make some aspects of staffing more flexible and efficient to enable more activities in the community.

"This showed that managers listened to feedback about staffing and that they were pro-active in planning improvements."

The report identified two areas for improvement: one to improve the format and content of service development plans, and one to "ensure that the continuing assessment, planning and evaluation of staffing is transparent, evidence-based and focussed on achieving good outcomes for people".

The report also said that four other areas for improvement, identified following a previous inspection visit in 2022, when the service's support for people's wellbeing was described as 'adequate', had all been met.

Paul Cooke, head of services (Scotland & Northern Ireland) at the National Autistic Society said: "We are delighted that the hard work of the managers and the staff team at Daldorch House has been recognised in a positive report from our regulators, the Care Inspectorate.

"To see the positive relationships between people we support and staff highlighted in the report alongside the compassionate, person-centred care that we provide at our service is testament to the commitment and dedication of our team.

"We also appreciate opportunities like this to work with our regulators to continue to improve what we do. The job of ensuring that the people we support can live happy fulfilling lives is always ongoing."