To receive a verbal update on the upcoming CQC inspection.
Minutes:
The Committee received an update from the Service Improvement & Efficiency Service Delivery Manage, Telford & Wrekin Council, regarding the pending inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Members were informed that this was in response to recent legislative changes under the 2022 Health and Care Act, in which Local Authorities were to be regulated and inspected by CQC. It was explained that the process of the inspection as well as the result was similar to that of an OFSTED inspection in education. Local authorities would be assessed over four key themes, which included:
· Working with people;
· Providing Support;
· Ensuring Safety, which includes safe systems, pathways and transitions from children to adult services, and appropriate safeguarding measures and policies; and
· Leadership and governance structures to ensure that the management structures, procedures and policies were suitable, sustainable and being monitored for improvement.
The CQC were tasked with reviewing all 153 local authorities over a 24-month period and the Council were notified in February 2024 that they were due to be inspected. At the time of the meeting, the local authority had submitted their self-assessment data to the CQC as part of the inspection. This data included the number of people that had care under the local authority, which had risen by 20% over the last year and highlighted that the average cost of care had risen by nearly £1,000.
A summary of both the strengths and challenges faced by the local authority was presented to Members. The strengths included a focus on the individual needs and outcomes of individuals that were experiencing care and learning from best practice and partnership/multi-agency working. The challenges faced and areas for improvement included reducing the amount of time people were waiting for an assessment or review, supporting unpaid carers and improving the uptake of the Council’s Direct Payment offer.
The presentation concluded with Officers informing Members of the next steps regarding the upcoming inspection. The improvement programme was in-place, and Officers were waiting for the official call for when the inspection would begin. The inspection itself was expected to take place over a five-day period, with three days being on-site and the other two days consisting of virtual interviews. Following the inspection, Members were informed that they would receive a further update to discuss the inspection and its result.
Following the presentation, Members raised a number of questions:
How
would the authority adapt to rising costs and increasing pressures
due to changing health concerns such as COVID-19 and an increase in
being understaffed?
As part of the CQC inspection, the self-assessment portion of the inspection highlighted some of issues being faced and a plan to address these, which included agreeing to increase the Council’s budget for adult social care.
Would new technologies be used to address the issues faced by care providers?
New technologies would be able to support with some of the emerging challenges faced by the care industry.
With the recent publicity regarding the Department for Work and Pensions over paying on benefits, were the Council able to support with this?
At the time of the meeting, the impact of this was unknown and that Officers worked with care centres to ensure that people receiving care were in receipt of the correct benefits.
With the improvement of outcomes for people discharged from hospital highlighted, how did you plan to continue this and would there be a role for the Council’s Health Champions to support?
There would be a role for Health Champions to support with discharged patients in the home to aid with their health and care needs. The authority would focus on the cohort and ensure that the support provided was appropriate.
What was the definition of an unpaid carer?
An unpaid career was a career that provided care without being paid. It was usually associated with a family member providing care. Unpaid careers were entitled to care benefits.