The service was graded at the second highest level of five (very good) in all three categories inspected.

John Alexander, convener of the city council’s housing committee, said: “This is a great achievement and shows the hard work of everyone involved in the warden’s service paying off.

“When the service was last inspected in March 2015 it was graded at fours across the board, so to improve things in all three categories is an exceptional performance.

“A number of developments have been made since the last inspection including more staff training, the introduction of a newsletter and improvements to décor which have taken the service to the next level.”

In a report published by the Care Inspectorate the quality of care and support, quality of staffing and quality of management and leadership were all highlighted.

The report notes: “This service supports tenants in sheltered housing complexes across Dundee and its strengths are in its professional and friendly staff, its efficient and effective approach to support and in its fostering of social and community activities.

“This was a very good service which was characterised by knowledgeable and friendly staff, person centred support and high customer satisfaction.

“Staff and management had put in a lot of hard work to arrive at this level of service and should be commended.”

Dundee City Council’s sheltered housing warden’s service provides housing support to around 2000 local authority tenants aged 60 and over in 35 sheltered housing complexes.

The sheltered service is provided every day of the week by wardens who are on duty in each complex, usually between 8.00am and 2.30pm or 4.00pm. Tenants are linked to the Community Alarm service out of hours.

As part of the inspection 26 staff and 29 service users were interviewed as well as the service manager and activities co-ordinator. Records, plans, policies and procedures were also looked at.

A number of the residents’ responses are printed in the report, including: “Very happy with the service” and “I feel safe here. They call me every morning to make sure I’m okay.”