Council urged to improve social care for adults

A council has been told to put more efforts into supporting people who are autistic and those with learning disabilities after an inspection of their adult social care services.

Bosses at Walsall Council were also told there was not enough support for those with more complex needs while there were also reports of delays in financial and occupational therapy assessments.

Overall, the authority was rated as "requires improvement" by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

But their inspectors said the assessment delays were improving and added that staff did make sure people got effective care. A council spokesperson said they were proud of improvements made since August's inspection.

The CQC team examined how well the council was doing in making sure people could access adult social care and support.

They looked at nine areas across what they called four themes, which included leadership and providing support - of the nine areas, eight were given a score of two out of four.

While the authority's bosses had a clear vision for the department, they needed to make sure "this was put into practice across all areas," chief inspector Chris Badger said.

Staff and leaders "needed to reach out more effectively to different communities" to understand specific needs and tailor services, the report from the CQC also stated.

The council was urged to improve how information was shared about community-based services.

But the watchdog said 93.06% of those receiving long-term support had a review of care and support needs in the last year, higher than an England average of 58.77%.

The inspectors report also stated effective short-term support had resulted in people needing less support going forward.

Responding, councillor Keir Pedley said they were under pressure in Walsall due to increased demand for their social care services.

He added they were committed to providing "the best possible" services and welcomed the CQC report.

Pedley said while "we don't recognise everything in the report and the resulting score of this assessment is disappointing, it highlights many areas of positive practice and performance".

The council had a "clear vision for change", he added, an improvement action plan was in place and he was confident "the service will deliver improvements quickly and efficiently".

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