Acknowledgement
We wish to thank all those who assisted us during this inspection. We received a very warm welcome from everyone we met in Highland - staff, stakeholders and people who use services, and are grateful to those who took the time to complete and return the questionnaires we sent out as part of the inspection process. We are particularly grateful to the social work service inspection co-ordinator and his team, who provided us with all the information we requested. We are also grateful to the members of staff who helped us with the file reading. We would also like to thank all the people we met during our three week visit to Highland, who responded to our questions in an open and constructive manner. We are grateful to everyone who took the time and effort to help us to develop a continually improved and more informed inspection process.
We would also like to acknowledge that the director of social work was absent on sick leave for a substantial period during the summer of 2006 and that acting up arrangements were in place.