CQC rates St Helens Borough Council’s adult social care provision as good

The Care Quality Commission (CQC), has rated St Helens 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 – 3
2. Supporting people to lead healthier lives – 3
3. Equity in experience and outcomes – 2
4. Care provision, integration and continuity of care - 2
5. Partnership and communities – 3
6. Safe pathways, systems and transitions - 2
7. Safeguarding - 3
8. Governance, management and sustainability - 3
9. Learning, improvement and innovation - 3

James Bullion, CQC’s chief inspector of adult social care and integrated care, said:

“At this assessment of St Helens Borough Council’s adult social care services, we found the authority had a good understanding of the support the local population needed to help them live healthier lives. People felt listened to, and their support reflected their needs and wishes, which was having a positive impact on their lives.

“We saw the strong, committed relationships they had with partners, working together to meet people’s needs. One very successful initiative provided people with rehabilitation and assistive technology such as falls alarms, when they were discharged from hospital resulting in a 30% increase in the number of people being discharged back into their own homes, rather than into residential care. This helped people retain their independence, and put less pressure on local hospitals, and social care services.

“Unpaid carers were positive about the quality of their assessments. They were person-centred, and focused on promoting their independence, choice and control over their daily lives. They valued the respite options which were offered to them, and the support from other carers so they had people to talk to and didn’t feel alone.

“We also heard that St Helens was working in partnership with voluntary and community organisations, to offer a number of support services to people who were struggling with the cost-of-living crisis. This included food banks and community pantries, which provided discounted food and home living essentials. People could also access financial support services, which had been set up to offer them advice and information.

“St Helens knew they had some work to do to improve communication when young people were transitioning between children’s and adult services. People mostly felt this was managed well, but sometimes poor communication between services, which led to delays in the authority recognising that young people needed adult social care support.

“Overall, St Helens Borough Council should be really pleased with the many positive findings in our report and are already building on this with further improvement plans. We look forward to returning to see how they have built on areas of good practice and how their plans mature.”

The assessment team found:

1. People were able to access equipment, aids and minor home adaptations to maintain their independence and continue living in their own homes.
2. Leaders had put effective systems and processes in place to make sure people were protected from abuse and neglect.
3. Leaders also put processes in place to ensure lessons were learnt when things went wrong to try and avoid them from happening again.
4. The local authority had no waiting lists for non-complex care assessments, and all urgent care assessments were assigned to the urgent community response team within two hours of initial contact.
5. Senior leaders were visible, and staff could access support and guidance when needed which meant people received a better service as a result.
6. Most people could easily access information and advice as well as urgent support when needed, such as appointment bookings, safeguarding referrals, and access to mental health assessments.

However, the assessment team also found:

1. St Helens had challenges around finding supported living for people with learning disabilities, autistic people, or people with mental health needs. This sometimes resulted in delays with hospital discharges.
2. More engagement was needed with seldom heard groups and people in the community with protected characteristics so better services could be provided for them.
3. The authority also needed to engage more with older carers and families supporting people with learning disabilities who were living at home in order to find out what their needs were, so they were able to offer them better services.