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Social Services in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council are providing good standards of care, are working towards tackling their shortfalls and are well placed to sustain and improve services according to a Joint Review report published today.
The review, carried out by the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales and the Wales Audit Office, says the Council is providing mainly good services and takes seriously its responsibilities for providing social care and support. The drive for improvement has had a positive impact and some good service developments mean that many people receive responsive services which help them to lead independent and fulfilling lives. Merthyr’s Social Services are still facing a number of challenges and there is scope to achieve better quality in the overall standard of work to make sure the right people get the right service at the right time.
Reviewers found that, in recent years, the Council has taken significant steps to modernise and extending the range of services and the volume of help available. Social services staff are very committed and reviewers have been impressed by the record of achievements made so far. The report concluded that the Council has good prospects for achieving further progress, but needs to focus attention on creating a wider range of social services and providing a more structured framework to support the work of staff.
The report identified particular areas of concern that still need to be addressed, including the need to get a better investment from the resources invested in social services and the need to make explicit the links between overall corporate aims and the aims for social services. Some services are currently outdated in approach, can sometimes be inconsistent in meeting the needs of service users and do not always deliver the sort of help the council would like to provide for carers and users.
The Council is aware that they must address these problems and has made the task of improving social services one of its key priorities. The report makes a number of key recommendations; these include:
- Achieving greater consistency in the quality of assessments, care planning and care management practice;
- Expanding more quickly the range of service options available to people in need, in order to address key service gaps identified by the Council; and
- Using all the levers of change to get more from the resources invested in social services.
The Chief Inspector of CSSIW, Rob Pickford said today:
“I am pleased with the progress that has been made to improve Social Services in Merthyr Tydfil. If the Council can continue to develop its services more widely and link this in with corporate aims, I am confident it will achieve even higher standards”
Auditor General for Wales, Jeremy Colman said today:
”Merthyr Tydfil Social Services has made significant improvements in its service provision over the last few years and has demonstrated a commitment to tackling existing shortfalls. The Council will now need to make difficult political decisions more promptly after major service reviews to enable service developments to be made at a faster pace. “
Notes to Editors:
- This report is part of a second series of joint reviews, a rolling five-year programme to assess the performance of individual social service authorities in Wales. The review of Merthyr took place between November 2006 and March 2007.
- Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council is several years into a journey to transform itself into a modern council, with an emphasis on regenerating its communities and developing the local economy. After a 2003 Audit Commission in Wales report on the Council’s corporate capacity to improve, there was a period of considerable change which included recruitment of a new chief executive, a major corporate restructuring and production of the Transformational Strategic plan which offers a blueprint for delivering the council’s vision and strategic aims.
- Joint reviews are conducted jointly by the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales and the Wales Audit Office.
- Joint reviews are carried out in accordance with the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003, which gives the National Assembly for Wales the power to conduct reviews of the way in which local authorities discharge their social services functions.
- Joint reviews set out to answer two key questions: How good are the social services that people in the area receive and how well placed is the Council to sustain and improve services?
- Further information can be found on the joint review web-site:
www.joint-reviews.gov.uk
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