The Care Quality Commission (CQC), has rated Oldham Council as good, in how well they are meeting their responsibilities to ensure people have access to adult social care and support under the Care Act (2014).
CQC has a new duty under the Act to assess how local authorities work with their communities and partners to meet their responsibilities. This includes promoting the wellbeing and independence of working age disabled adults, older people, and their unpaid carers to reduce their need for formal support where appropriate. Where support is needed it should provide people with choice and control of how their care needs are met.
CQC looked at nine areas spread across four themes to assess how well the authority is meeting their responsibilities in order to create their good rating. CQC has given each of these nine areas a score out of four with one being the evidence shows significant shortfalls, and four showing an exceptional standard.
1. assessing people’s needs: 2
2. supporting people to lead healthier lives: 2
3. equity in experience and outcomes: 2
4. care provision, integration and continuity of care: 3
5. partnership and communities: 3
6. safe pathways, systems and transitions: 3
7. safeguarding: 3
8. governance, management and sustainability: 3
9. learning, improvement and innovation: 3
Chris Badger, CQC’s chief inspector of adult social care and integrated care, said:
"At this assessment, we found Oldham Council had strong leaders, who were clear about their roles and responsibilities, and had a good understanding of what was going on across the area.
“It was great to see how Oldham Council had made working with local people and partner organisations a priority, so they could help understand people’s care and support needs across different communities. For example, the local authority and housing organisations worked together to repurpose empty properties to support people to stay independent in a place they call home. Our assessors saw the positive impact this had on reducing the number of people being placed outside the area.
“Additionally, the authority worked with the voluntary and community sector on projects aimed to increase people’s independence and reduce their need for any future care through a ‘move more’ initiative. This helped to increase people’s physical activity and reduce isolation and loneliness.
“Staff also told us leaders had created a supportive culture, where they had ongoing learning and support enabling them to deliver good quality care, safely to people.
“However, feedback from unpaid carers was mixed. Some carers felt that accessing respite had supported their wellbeing and they could continue caring for their loved ones while keeping themselves well. However, others told us that there wasn’t enough respite care available, and sometimes it was cancelled at short notice which had a negative effect on their wellbeing.
"The authority also had more work to do to reduce waiting times for reviews and some assessments. For example, we saw some people’s care records showed their annual reviews were overdue, which posed a risk to their safety. However, leaders were aware of this and were monitoring the situation closely at the time of the assessment.
“Overall, Oldham should be really pleased with the many positive findings in our report and their good rating. They’ve already told us how they’re planning to build on this further with improvement plans and we look forward to returning to see how their plans mature.”
The assessment team also found:
- Staff took the time to listen to people and made them feel reassured.
- Oldham Council had the fifth highest uptake rate nationally for direct payments, giving people greater choice and control about how their care and support needs are met.
- The local authority listened to people’s feedback and acted on it to make improvements.
- Staff planned people’s care and support with them and partner organisations to keep them safe across their care journey and ensure continuity of care.
- The local authority had effective systems and processes in place to safeguard people from abuse and neglect.
However:
- People couldn’t always access information and advice in a way that was convenient for them, particularly for people who don’t speak English and those who felt they were digitally excluded.
- People with learning disabilities could no longer access training programmes to help them gain employment. This reduced their opportunities for developing skills and impacted on their wellbeing.