Council's social care rating regraded to 'good'

Support for vulnerable adults in Swindon is better than first suggested, a government watchdog has decided.

The town's borough council was told it needed to improve by the Care Quality Commission last year. It challenged the rating, which has now been upgraded to good.

Scores for governance and leadership were improved, which brought the overall rating up.

Council leader Jim Robbins said: "We were extremely disappointed to originally miss out on a 'Good' grading by the narrowest of margins, which is why we asked for the review."

The CQC's review report highlighted several ways the council had improved its services including by:

• Creating several "initiatives to prevent, delay or reduce needs for care and support"

• Aligning work between partners, particularly in relation to hospital discharge and helping to restore lost independence

• Insuring generally sufficient capacity available to meet people's needs

• Implementing a new Quality Assurance Framework to drive and monitor provider improvements

The watchdog also noted a number of challenges the council still faced including with issues with its relationships with parts of the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector and said it needed further support with recruitment and retention.

Robbins thanked the CQC for allowing them to challenge the previous decision and carrying out a robust independent review.

"This will make a huge difference to everyone working in the department," he said.

"Adult social care provides support many of us hope we will never have to rely on but, having seen for myself, the warmth and dedication shown by colleagues to those that need our help, it fills me with great pride."

Councillor Ray Ballman said the regrade is a "testament to the collective resilience, leadership and commitment of our staff, who work so hard to support some of the most vulnerable people in Swindon".

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