Adult care 'requires improvement', inspectors say

A local authority's adult social care service requires improvement, health inspectors have said.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) described South Gloucestershire Council's provision as innovative, but said it had heard accounts of "mixed experiences".

James Bullion, the CQC's chief inspector of adult social care and integrated care, said there were "gaps in the system" which the council was already aware of.

A spokesperson for South Gloucestershire Council said the watchdog was "clear" in its "confidence" in the authority's plans to address improvements.

Inspectors said they had been told some people had found it difficult to find what they needed on the authority's website, that there was a waiting list for occupational therapy and that a lack of consistent contacts for service users was sometimes a barrier to asking for help.

There also needed to be a greater focus on hospital discharge services, they said, as well as making sure people could access equipment or minor home adaptations in a timely manner.

"In some cases people waited an unacceptably long time" for their Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards - which ensure people who cannot consent to their care arrangements in a care home or hospital are protected - "given their needs and risks," Mr Bullion said.

But while there were a number of areas in which the authority was told to improve, inspectors also found areas of good performance - including staff feeling as though they were respected, service users feeling they retained their independence and a good experience for those transitioning from child to adult services.

"At this inspection, we saw an authority that was looking to the future," Mr Bullion said. "They were innovative, worked well with partners and were supporting people to stay healthy to prevent them from needing future support."

A spokesperson for South Gloucestershire Council told the BBC the authority's overall rating fell "just 4% short of a Good rating", adding that its plans to address areas of improvement were "already showing results".

South Gloucestershire councillor John O'Neil, who has responsibility for adult social care, said staff worked "tirelessly every day" to help residents "live as happy, healthy and independent lives as possible".

"We have plans in place to make the changes in practice that we need to," he said, adding: "We have confidence in our teams to deliver and indeed, we are already seeing improvements."

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