|
Social services in Cardiff are not serving people well and have poor prospects for improvement, according to an independent report published today by the Audit Commission in Wales and the Social Services Inspectorate for Wales.
The report highlights particular concern about children’s services and says that, although performance is improving, the authority is still in default of its statutory obligations in respect of children who are at risk or looked after.
The report is part of a rolling programme of joint reviews designed to assess the performance of individual social service authorities in Wales and England.
The Review says many staff in Cardiff are committed to providing high quality care. It also highlights examples of good services. However, overall, the report says that service users and carers are disadvantaged by delays, service shortfalls and inconsistencies in getting the help they need. Top managers and councillors are seen to be too divorced from the front-line. The whole culture of the organisation needs to become less secretive and more inclusive, driven by the pursuit of good outcomes for users and carers.
Specifically the report says:
- Children are exposed to unacceptable risks owing to a substantial backlog of high risk referrals through insufficient staffing and other factors; immediate action is being taken to tackle this;
- Some children remain in care longer than necessary waiting for adoption;
- A welcome development is the setting up of a new team to develop the previously neglected services to support children with disabilities;
- There are examples of some good services such as the community alcohol team and hospital social work. For the mainstream, there are too many delays, and the options for people are too limited. Mental health services are the least well resourced;
- Resources are used in a diametrically opposite way to stated policies, focusing too much on long term substitute care and too little on supporting people to live independent lives. Resources are not always targeted at those who most need them;
- Staffing pressures need to be tackled. This includes the recruitment and retention of good staff.
Efforts have been made to tackle some problem areas with evident success. Improvement to services to support people who need help with mobility is a good example. However, if the wholesale improvements needed across social services are to be delivered, it will require equally radical changes to the management of people and systems.
The joint review report identifies the following priorities for action:
- Make safe the assessment and management of child care risk;
- Prioritise plans to reshape services based on evidence of need and a best value approach as to how and who is to provide them;
- Create stronger strategic and operational partnerships with agencies and providers in all sectors;
- Connect councillors and senior managers with users, carers and staff;
- Promote a more cost effective use of resources to create more choice for users and carers;
- Make better use of information to monitor and improve performance.
Looking to the future, the Council has signalled its determination to transform its social services. A detailed action plan is being drawn up demonstrating how it intends to deal with the issues raised in the joint review report. The Social Services Inspectorate for Wales and external auditors will be closely monitoring the situation over the coming months.
Sue Mead, Assistant Review Director, Joint Reviews, said:
"The people of Cardiff are not getting a good deal from their social services at present. Efforts to improve the safety of children need urgent attention. There are also longer term issues to tackle if services are to be redesigned to support people better in their own homes. The Council needs to build more trusting alliances with its workforce, partners and service users to ensure everyone is pulling together to bring about the necessary changes. The Authority has acknowledged what needs to be done and has given a commitment to put things right."
Notes to Editors
The Joint Review of Local Authorities' Social Services was established in 1996 as a joint project between the Audit Commission and the Social Services Inspectorate of the Department of Health. The reviews help councils and government identify how to improve services and achieve better value for money. By the end of 2001, Joint Reviews had published over 100 reports, and reviews had commenced in a further 30 local authorities. Each report is presented to the individual authority and widely disseminated to the population each authority serves. An executive summary of each report is available.
The Audit Commission for local authorities and the NHS is an independent body established under the Audit Commission Act 1998. Its duties are to appoint auditors to all local and health authorities and to help them bring about improvements in economy, efficiency and effectiveness directly through the audit process and through value for money studies.
The Social Services Inspectorate, based in the Department of Health, assists Ministers in carrying out their responsibilities for the provision of personal social services. It provides professional advice, runs a national programme of inspections to evaluate the quality of services and assists local authorities and independent agencies in planning and delivering effective and efficient social services.
Further details about the Audit Commission can be obtained from its website - http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/
|
