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The review, carried out by the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales and the Wales Audit Office, says that the Council has raised the profile of Social Services since the last joint review and some of the services provided to vulnerable people have improved significantly.
Reviewers found that the Council has shifted the focus of services to provide more inclusive options for service users, with more people being helped to live safely at home. Within adult services, the range of services has increased and is helping provide a more tailored approach for service users. These changes have meant people find it easier to make contact with social services and receive services that enable them to feel more included in their community.
In children’s services, the report shows that children and young people who receive help generally get a timely response from social services and there are positive aspects to the systems for reviewing cases and for managing admissions to accommodation. However, there is a need for the increased involvement of other agencies in assessing the needs of children and the Council should pay particular attention to improving arrangements for child protection work.
The report identifies that there is a clear sense of direction for social services and improved partnership working within the Council and with other agencies has helped secure a number of new, more creative services. These are leading to more positive outcomes for many service users. Recruitment and retention of staff, increased investment in social services and effective budget management was also commended by the reviewers.
The report does identify a numbers of areas where improvement is needed. More needs to be done to ensure assessments and care plans are consistently focused on better outcomes for service users, and monitoring arrangements need to be strengthened. Further work is also needed to ensure that all of the essential elements are securely in place to enable services to be shaped and delivered. Although there is now a greater range of services which are also more community focussed, there are still concerns about gaps, and the Council must continue its work on extending the coverage of services across the County.
The Council is aware that these problems need to be addressed and the report makes a number of key recommendations which include:
- improving assessment, care management and review in adult and children’s services;
- strengthening the arrangements for protecting vulnerable people;
- developing strategic partnerships particularly with the Local Health Board and NHS Trusts; and
- getting the most from the resources available.
The Chief Inspector of CSSIW, Rob Pickford said today:
“I am pleased with the progress that has been made to improve social services in Ceredigion. If the Council can continue to develop the scope and coverage of its services with a more business like approach, I am confident its services will continue to improve and achieve higher standards”
Auditor General for Wales, Jeremy Colman said today:
”Ceredigion County Council has made a number of significant improvements to its social services over the last few years and there is a clear sense of direction for the future. Rising demand and increasing expectations around social care now makes it essential for the Council to focus on making the best use of its resources“
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 Ceredigion took place between October 2006 and January 2007.
- Ceredigion County Council has recently appointed a new chief executive and has invested time and resources to establish a new performance management system which should help influence service delivery standards, prioritising of budgets and provide corporate direction. The recent Annual Audit letter stated that the Council’s financial controls and standards of service are generally good, and that the direction and pace for improvement was positive.
- 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?
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