A Slough Borough Council boss has been questioned on financial pressures facing the authority’s adult social care department as it works to build on a ‘Good’ Care Quality Commission (CQC) rating.
The CQC carried out an assessment of Slough’s adult social care services in March, and found that the borough has ‘implemented clear, effective safeguarding policies’.
The care watchdog gave the services an overall ‘Good’ rating in July.
But the report said the council ‘didn’t always meet demand’ and the transition from children to adult services ‘remained a challenge’.
At a corporate improvement scrutiny committee meeting on Tuesday, 23 September at Observatory House in Slough, questions were raised about whether the service would be able to maintain a ‘Good’ rating going forward, and what is being done to address the CQC’s concerns.
Cllr Fiza Matloob (Lab, Baylis and Salt Hill) said: “The transitions from children to adults’ services, that’s been an issue in this borough for a number of years.
“That’s nothing new. But by the looks of it nothing has changed.”
Cllr Matloob wanted to know how this will be addressed within the council’s improvement plan.
David Coleman-Groom, the council’s executive director for people – adults (DASS), said that the 2024-2029 improvement plan focuses on ‘early identification’ and communicating with families.
Mr Coleman-Groom said: “The transition [from children to adults’ services] seems to be a big challenge for most local authorities and I can’t really grasp why.
“We now have a strategic transitions group… which overlooks the whole cohort of young people and we’re trying to get that cohort down to the age of 14.
“I think that’s the biggest challenge we’ve had, that we’ve been looking at people who are going to be turning 18 this year. It’s too late – by that time we should’ve already done an assessment.”
Cllr Matloob was also worried about how the quality of services will be affected by financial pressures.
A total of £4.9million in savings have been made in the department’s budget for this financial year but, despite this, adult social care is ‘already forecasting’ a £5.9million overspend, said Mr Coleman-Groom.
Nevertheless, he said the department is ‘on track’ to deliver the level of service required.
Mr Coleman-Groom said: “I can’t say somebody can’t have care because we don’t have the money. We’ve got to look at how to find the money to provide the care, but it has to be the right level of care.”
He said these financial pressures come from the cost of providers and an increase in service demand.
But he added his ‘ambition’ is that the savings will ‘absolutely not impact the rating’.
To help ensure this, the department has made ‘significant improvements’ to its complaints process, addressing them in a timelier manner, Mr Coleman-Groom said.
The improvement plan also looks to reduce waiting times for people needing to be assessed by adult social care services.
Mr Coleman-Groom also took on feedback from service providers who called for improvements.
Overall, the providers praised the ‘positive relationship’ they have with the council.
But R.E.A.C.H Residential Services said that quality assurance assessments, which are used to assess if a provider offers effective and high-quality care, can be improved.
The care provider believes these assessments are ‘geared towards elderly support’ rather than adults with learning disabilities and autism – ‘two very different types of support’.
