East Sussex County Council: local authority assessment
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Overall summary
Local authority rating and score
Quality statement scores
Summary of people's experiences
People’s views were mostly positive about the local authority. Although, there were delays for Care Act assessments. When people were supported by the local authority, they felt listened to, their views respected and that their care plan was person centred.
People had carers assessments completed for them, however, there was mixed reviews about the effectiveness of carers reviews and the support people received throughout the assessment. The local authority had recognised a gap in their carers’ offer and had been working with people to co-produce a new carers strategy.
People told us they had a positive experience with the local authority’s reablement offer. It had supported them to re-gain independence after a hospital admission, and they were provided with exercises and equipment to support their return home independently.
People had been working in co-production with the local authority around their website and ensuring information on there was accessible and easy read documents were available for people. They told us they were looking at the removal of acronyms in documents so that information provided by the local authority was more accessible to people.
The local authority had an Involvement Matters Team which was a co-production group for people with lived experience. This team would support with co-production of strategies and development of local authority services. People told us they felt their feedback was listened to and used to implement change.
Summary of strengths, areas for development and next steps
There were waiting lists in place for all Care Act processes across East Sussex. There was a plan of reducing these which was a clear focus for the local authority, but work was still ongoing around this. Data was shared across all local authority staff, so all staff had a clear understanding of targets. There was clear leadership oversight of the waiting lists in place to ensure people remained safe.
The local authority was developing Integrated Community Teams to provide partnership working with the local authority front line teams and health professionals, housing and the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) sector to ensure robust and consistent support for people. At the time of the assessment this was in the early stages of development and delivery.
The local authority had recognised a gap within care provision for people with complex needs, which meant support was taking longer to be put into place for people or they were needing to be placed out of area. The local authority was working on supported living accommodation and working in partnership with providers, the ICB and district councils to solve this gap in care provision.
Co-production was a real strength for the local authority, they regularly involved experts by experience and people using services to input on strategic commissioning and local services. The local authority had created co-production panels such as the citizens panel and the Involvement Matters Team, who were made up of people who used services and supported the voice of people in East Sussex.
There were delays around hospital discharge within East Sussex due to the capacity of discharge to assess beds. This was causing longer stays for people in hospital putting pressure on people, the local authority and partners. The local authority was working with partners to address this issue.
Local authority staff had good knowledge and clear understanding of their role within safeguarding and the processes in place. These processes supported people to remain safe. Staff worked in partnership with the local Safeguarding Adults Board and had a Safeguarding Development Team Lead sitting within each locality team to ensure oversight. Staff felt well supported within their decision making around safeguarding.
The local authority had structures and processes in place. The workforce was passionate about supporting people to achieve positive outcomes and there was a strong leadership team in place to support them. The local authority had good knowledge of their area, the people living there and the demographics. There were challenges in terms of discharge and gaps within the care market.
The local authority had clear development, and improvement plans in place around waiting lists, discharge delays and prevention strategies. Although they were not fully implemented at the time of the assessment, action plans were in place and being worked towards. There were also plans in place around the development of supported living properties to support the gap in care provision.