CQC rates Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council’s adult social care provision as good

The Care Quality Commission (CQC), has rated Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council as good, in how well they are meeting their responsibilities to ensure people have access to adult social care and support under the Care Act (2014).  

CQC has a new duty under the Act to assess how local authorities work with their communities and partners to meet their responsibilities. This includes promoting the wellbeing and independence of working age disabled adults, older people, and their unpaid carers to reduce their need for formal support where appropriate. Where support is needed it should provide people with choice and control of how their care needs are met.

CQC looked at nine areas spread across four themes to assess how well the authority is meeting their responsibilities in order to create their good rating. CQC has given each of these nine areas a score out of four with one being the evidence shows significant shortfalls, and four showing an exceptional standard.

1. assessing people’s needs: 2
2. supporting people to lead healthier lives: 2
3. equity in experience and outcomes: 2
4. care provision, integration and continuity of care: 3
5. partnership and communities: 3
6. safe pathways, systems and transitions: 3
7. safeguarding: 3
8. governance, management and sustainability: 3
9. learning, improvement and innovation: 3

Chris Badger, CQC’s chief inspector of adult social care and integrated care, said:

“At our assessment of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, we found a local authority committed to working in partnership and improving services to give local people effective adult social care support. Leaders provided strong management and monitored services closes to tailor plans accordingly. Sandwell had made positive changes in recent years and had many plans in place to address areas needing improvement.

“People had mostly positive experiences of adult social care and support in Sandwell. They told us staff involved them in planning and decisions about their care to make it as effective as possible and described staff as genuine and passionate about helping to change people’s lives.

“Sandwell worked closely with partner organisations and the local community to develop services that helped people live as independently as possible. These services helped to prevent, delay or reduce people’s need for care and support. Staff shared data with partners and worked with a range of different teams to help people achieve the best possible outcomes.

“It was clear leaders were committed to learning and improving to constantly develop services. They empowered staff to be creative and share ideas to help improve and enhance the support they delivered. Leaders had embedded this learning culture across the local authority, resulting in innovative practices and opportunities to share excellence.

“However, the local authority needed to do more to reduce the time people waited for assessments and reviews, and leaders had a number of initiatives in place that was helping to address this. Staff managed the risks people faced and any changes in their care needs while they were waiting.

“Staff and leaders at Sandwell should be pleased with the many positive areas in the report. It was encouraging to hear about the plans they had in place to make improvements in others, and we look forward to visiting again and seeing their progress.”

The assessment team found:

1. Adult social care teams had developed a specific service to support people in care or hospital services who didn’t need long term care, to maximise their independence before returning home.
2. Leaders had worked hard to improve the culture at Sandwell. Staff felt comfortable raising issues and leaders had identified where improvements were needed and put plans in place, and partners felt the local authority had made significant improvements and took action when they raised concerns or queries.
3. Staff provided people with equipment and minor home adaptations to help them maintain their independence and continue living in their own home. The local authority also responded quickly when people raised concerns. For example, when one person raised concerns that their equipment had been incorrectly set up, staff resolved this quickly.
4. Staff had the appropriate skills to support any safeguarding concerns raised about people and attended local and regional forums to learn good practice. This helped them support vulnerable people and work with partners to achieve positive outcomes.

However, the assessment team also found:

1. While the local authority supported people with consideration for their cultural needs, there was mixed feedback on inclusion and accessibility. Some people faced challenges, including being unable to access information in their own language or knowing how they could request this.
2. Unpaid carers weren’t always offered a carers assessment or waited a long time for an assessment or review. They wanted more responsive support at times of crisis but did feel listened to at their assessments and were involved in the development of the new carers service. The new carers hub and wider offer aimed to improve unpaid carers’ experiences.
3. Sandwell had a lower uptake of people accessing direct payments than regional and national averages, and leaders were redesigning their offer to help more people access them.