Adult social care must improve, says watchdog

Inspectors said they found more than 1,400 people waiting for a care assessments

A health watchdog has said adult social care services in Derby require improvement.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said inspectors found a shortage of social care staff in some areas and a lack of specialist housing provision for people with complex needs.

Inspectors also heard from some unpaid carers who told them they were only being assessed for further support following a "mental breakdown".

Councillor Alison Martin from Derby City Council told the BBC they accepted the report and improvements were already under way.

CQC officials inspected nine areas of care with eight showing "some evidence of shortfall".

People told them their experiences of care and support from Derby City Council were "mixed".

The authority said unpaid carers could be referred for an assessment to identify how they could best be supported.

But carers identified gaps in support and provision provided by the local authority and that feedback from them was "largely negative".

The CQC was told there was a "lack of preventative measures" put in place to support them and the "long waiting time" for assessments was in some cases "impacting on their mental health".

The report highlighted more than 2,000 people in Derby were registered as unpaid carers.

Concerns were raised around a lack of commissioned services for carers which they felt led to some carers being ‘forgotten’ or 'falling through the gaps'.

Carers also told the CQC they were only being assessed following a "mental breakdown or serious situations".

The local authority had significant waiting lists for assessments and reviews. Data at the time of the inspection revealed 1,454 overdue reviews - equating to 42% of total cases, the CQC said.

Derby City Council has been told it needs to improve its adult social care services

Inspectors also found there was a "shortage of specialist housing provision" for people with complex needs and a shortage of supported living and extra care for individuals over 60.

This sometimes led to people being placed outside of the local area, the CQC said.

There was a "disproportionate impact on people with learning and disabilities" in relation to housing, with higher waiting times for specialist placements, the report added.

Inspectors also said there were "challenges" in relation to occupational therapy (OT) resources.

The city council said there were vacant posts that had not been recruited to and had subsequently been removed.

Staff said they felt that the reduction to the OT team had led to an "increase in waiting list times in all areas" including assessments, grant approvals, and funding allocations.

Care staff also raised concerns about the absence of a bespoke deaf advocacy availability in Derby which meant deaf people that required advocacy support were having to travel to another city to gain access to services suitable for their needs.

Councillor Alison Martin is the cabinet member for health and adult care at Derby City Council

Councillor Alison Martin, cabinet member for health and adult care at Derby City Council, said: "We accept this report - we know this is in line with what we know about the service already.

"In the year since I took over as cabinet member, we've already made a lot of improvements to the service which the CQC recognise.

"We already have plans to improve the service further to make sure the people of Derby get the best service possible."

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