Council's support for vulnerable adults praised

North Yorkshire Council's support for vulnerable adults has been praised

A council's support for vulnerable adults has been praised by the healthcare watchdog.

North Yorkshire Council was rated as "good" by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following an inspection of its adult social care services.

The CQC's chief inspector of adult social care and integrated care Chris Badger said people living in North Yorkshire had access to "safe" and "high quality" adult social care services.

The council's executive member for health and adult services Michael Harrison said the findings were "a testament to all the hard work, determination and talent of our staff and partners in the community".

Harrison added that there was "still much more work to do" as the authority faces significant pressures "both financially and in terms of people's changing needs and expectations of social care".

However, he said he wanted to thank everyone involved in the service for and hoped the findings would help them "drive forward further improvements in the future".

The report singled out the areas of equity in experience and outcomes and learning, improvement and innovation for particularly strong praise, describing them as "exceptional".

Mr Badger said the council was "committed to engaging with people and communities who faced inequalities, to help understand and respond to risks they faced".

In rural areas where residents faced transport issues, staff were praised for reaching out for people at farmers' markets.

'Good practice

Mr Badger also praised the council's "strong and approachable leaders", who "really understood the day to day challenges their frontline staff were facing".

Inspectors also praised the authority's plans to build "care and support hubs" to provide short-term bed-based rehabilitation and specialist dementia support for people when they are discharged from hospital.

A lack of access to mental health services and home care in rural areas was criticised, but the report said this was being addressed.

"We look forward to returning to see how they've built on their areas of good practice and how their plans develop," said Mr Badger.

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