The county council is improving services for vulnerable adults

MP Congratulates Council's Social Care and Health Directorate

Stafford MP, David Kidney has sent a warm letter of congratulations to the County Council's Social Care and Health directorate, after it received a two star rating from Government watchdogs.

The letter comes just after Cabinet approved some difficult decisions concerning its care homes. "I am pleased to see that the Council has risen to a two star rating," said Mr Kidney. "I wish you continued success as you work further to improve the performance of your Council."

The rating was based on the 'good' delivery of its outcomes and its 'promising' capacity for improvement by the Commission for Social Care and Inspection (CSCI).

The rating measures how well the county is serving adults who use social care services and what potential it has to make further improvements.

Eric Robinson, Corporate Director of Social Care and Health said: "We have a duty to help people in their community to access the social services that they need. The star rating gives an overall picture of how well we do this, and is based on a range of findings, including meetings, inspections, statistics and how well we have done in meeting our own plans to improve our services."

CSCI, who award the ratings across England and Wales, can score the Council from one to three stars, depending on how well they have performed.

The two star rating indicates 'good,' whilst one star would mean the services being delivered are adequate. In the previous inspection last year one star was awarded.

As the directorate moves into a new era in social care and health, it now has ambitious aspirations to achieve three stars and an 'excellent' rating.

County Councillor Susan Woodward, Cabinet Member for Healthier Communities and Older People said: "This is really good news for us given the tremendous period of change that we have gone through and continue to go through. It gives us strong foundations to build on as we prepare to make more improvements which will provide better services for those who need them. We've already seen a 100% increase in the number of people using direct payments, which gives people increased choice and control over their care budget, and there are plans to introduce at least one Extra Care scheme to each district, and more supported housing as we seek to help more people remain independent and to live in their community."

The council admits, it's an exciting time for social care and health - and it will bring many changes for the better for those who benefit from its services, and a lot of hard work lies ahead as its plans become a reality.

 "We're doing as much as we can to engage with our communities and we will be launching a new Adult Care Panel soon," says Eric Robinson. "This will enable us to work more closely with older and vulnerable adults and gives us the opportunity to directly translate their views and ideas into new services and projects across the county."

Strong and effective leadership were amongst the best performing areas identified by CSCI, as were joint working and an increasing range of preventative services and services which helped people to live independently.

See the report 

 

Page Last Modified: 07/12/2007 09:41:17

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