The Care Quality Commission (CQC), has rated Peterborough City 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: 3
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 people using services in Peterborough often had positive experiences. There were good levels of satisfaction from people and unpaid carers who told us they felt listened to and received a timely response to requests for support. People told us information was accessible, and staff communicated effectively using a variety of formats and support tools.
“When the local authority was planning people’s care, it focused on their strengths and what they could do, as well as what was important to them rather than just what support they needed. With the additional focus on people’s human rights, equality and inclusivity providing options including translation and advocacy, it meant care was really centred around people’s individual needs.
“We also saw Peterborough City Council had strengthened its early help services, offering a wide range of support focused on preventing problems before they escalate. The local authority used digital tools, including artificial intelligence (AI), to better support residents and staff. Leaders also worked closely with local people to shape services. It commissions Healthwatch to run five partnership boards and works with its communities team to hear from groups whose voices are often underrepresented.
“However, the authority doesn’t always complete planned reviews on time, and some unpaid carers said their experiences were mixed. Some told our inspectors they didn't always feel they were offered choices about the support they receive. They recognised these issues and is introducing new ways of working, which it expects will lead to better outcomes for people.
“Overall, Peterborough 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 found:
- The local authority coordinated well across services and agencies to improve continuity and efficiency of care, with staff developing strong working relationships with health colleagues..
- Staff used reablement to promote independence, with 88.7% of people completing a period of reablement without then requiring long-term care and support.
- Staff worked closely with people with lived experience to co-design accessible forms and develop the learning disability vision. The vision outlines what people with a learning disability want from services and communities.
- The local authority provided a range of support options for unpaid carers, including an emergency planning service offering up to 72 hours of sitting support. If care was needed beyond 72 hours, they would continue until the local authority could provide additional support.
- The local authority explained their prevention and early intervention team brought together teams across adult social care and housing to keep people in their homes as independently as possible.
- Peterborough used feedback from people, including complaints and compliments, to improve services and share learning across teams.
However, the assessment team also found:
- The local authority acknowledged that 363 people were waiting longer than six months for a planned review and is working to improve timely completion of statutory reviews to meet its target.
- Peterborough’s relationships with voluntary and community groups were mixed. Smaller community groups felt they received less support and attention than larger organisations. This made it harder for them to access funding.