The Care Quality Commission (CQC), has rated Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council as requires improvement, 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 requires improvement 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.
- Assessing people’s needs – 3
- Supporting people to lead healthier lives – 2
- Equity in experience and outcomes – 2
- Care provision, integration and continuity of care - 2
- Partnership and communities – 2
- Safe pathways, systems and transitions - 2
- Safeguarding - 3
- Governance, management and sustainability - 2
- Learning, improvement and innovation - 3
James Bullion, CQC’s chief inspector of adult social care and integrated care, said:
“Our assessment of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council revealed the challenges of delivering adult social care across one of England’s most deprived areas, which was having an impact on people’s health and wellbeing. Despite these challenges, leaders were committed to addressing people’s needs by developing preventative strategies to help reduce their need for more formal support.
“For example, the changing futures team supported people with complex needs to maintain or improve their health and independence. Staff told us they encouraged open conversations and shared information to better support people. Additionally, 20% of the team had lived experience, which helped them understand people’s needs.
“Redcar and Cleveland acknowledged challenges when carrying out complex assessments for people who needed continuing healthcare or had additional needs or disabilities. This led to some people experiencing delays with their assessments and funding. However, the authority had processes in place to reduce risks to people's wellbeing while they were waiting for an assessment.
“Also, across the borough we heard mixed feedback on young people’s experiences when preparing for adult life and moving from support by children's services to adult social care. Some young people felt they hadn’t been supported, and the process took too long. However, others felt staff knew them well and helped them access support to meet their needs.
“However, the authority was doing some good work, such as creating a dementia friendly guide to help care homes improve their support for people living with the condition. For example, offering accessible activities, and improving the environment to meet people’s needs.
“Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council are aware of the areas where improvements are needed but should be pleased with the positive findings in our assessment and the foundation they’ve built. We look forward to seeing their progress and hope they build on the work already underway.”
The assessment team found:
- There was a high uptake of direct payments, however people using them sometimes struggled to find services to meet their needs.
- Staff vacancies were impacting on waiting times for assessments, therefore recruitment and retention remained a continuing focus.
- The authority did not always feedback to partners about the outcome of safeguarding concerns. However, people felt involved throughout the safeguarding process and were supported to meet their preferred outcome.
- The authority encouraged people to be independent by supporting them through short term reablement services and extra care housing.
- Feedback from unpaid carers was mostly positive, and their assessments had been completed in a timely manner. Data showed 50% of unpaid carers were satisfied with social services which was better than the England average of 36.83%.
- The authority website included information for people whose first language was not English, and staff were able to access translation services for those who required information in a different language. Also, documents could be provided in formats accessible for people with sensory impairments.
- The authority has been innovative and uses assistive technology. This includes sensors and equipment to prompt people to take their medication at the correct times.
The assessment will be published on CQC’s website on Friday 4 July.