2 days ago
Lancashire County Council's adult care services 'require improvement'
Adult social care services at Lancashire County Council have been rated as "requires improvement" after inspectors found a range of issues including assessment delays and staff being "overwhelmed".The Care Quality Commission inspected the authority in report showed delays in care assessments and reviews, long waits for occupational therapy, "stark inequalities between the most and least deprived areas" and "staff capacity issues", but noted how "unpaid carers were well supported."Lancashire County Council said that it had already started "implementing changes to transform services".
Inspectors looked at nine areas of the service and rated them between 1 and 4, with the service scoring two in all of the nine is the first time Lancashire's adult social care services have been assessed at county-level, with previous inspections focusing on individual homes and services at a more local level.
'Staff capacity issues'
Chief inspector James Bullion said: "When we visited, just over 2,000 people were still waiting for assessments, some up to 226 days. "It was also concerning that more than 3,500 people were waiting for their annual reviews – some for many years – in which time their care needs could have changed dramatically."He added: "We saw staff capacity issues making these problems worse. Many practitioners told us about unsustainable workloads and feeling overwhelmed. "We saw this impacting people's care making it more inconsistent."Inspectors did note the service was "still able to do good work" and that it had a "high-quality care provider market", as well as "unpaid carers being well supported".The council said it had already seen a 48% reduction in those waiting more than 28 days, reduced the number of people waiting for an assessment by 50% and taken on new staff.
The inspectors visited before May's local elections and while the service was under the previous Conservative council's current Reform UK leader Stephen Atkinson said: "While the inspection took place during the previous council administration, we accept the inspectors' findings and want to assure residents that significant work is continuing to ensure that the people we support every day receive the best service possible."Independent opposition leader Azhar Ali described this report as a "wake up call" and has urged Reform UK to work with the opposition "to make sure the people of Lancashire get a good service."
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