19/12/05 - Social care services under pressure
Social care services across the country are struggling
to meet people's needs, the independent care services watchdog warned
today.
Most councils are improving their systems and doing what's required
of them, and councils and care providers are doing their best to meet
national standards and make the most of limited resources – but targeting
resources on people with the highest levels of need means that fewer
people are receiving the care they need to enable them to live independent
lives in their own homes.
In the first comprehensive report on social care in England, CSCI paints
a picture of services that are serving some people well but whose future
is uncertain.
Too often people receive care that is patchy and fragmented, as care
homes and home care services struggle to recruit and retain high quality
staff. Because of the difficulties with recruiting staff, vital recruitment
checks are often overlooked, placing people at risk. Social workers
remain the poorest-paid professionals, and care workers are getting
an increasingly poor deal.
Dame Denise Platt, Chair of CSCI, said:
"The quality and dignity of millions of people's lives depend on good
social care services – when it is done well, social care can transform
lives. Overall, there has been a welcome improvement in the performance
of councils and in the standards met by regulated services in social
care.
"While targeting resources on people with the highest level of need
is an understandable response from councils facing financial pressures,
it is a short-sighted strategy. Equally short-sighted is the failure
of councils to support unpaid carers, the relatives and friends on whom
the social care system relies so heavily. No one should underestimate
this – if the current level of informal care was to be fully funded,
it would cost the same as a second NHS."
The report's key findings include:
#Many people, both adults and children, do not qualify for services
because of the high thresholds which give access to them.
Councils are concentrating on developing services for those with the
highest and most complex needs. Early intervention strategies for both
adults and children need to be improved.
In children's services the drive to build integrated services has resulted
in a decline in good performance in some councils, who now need to consider
urgently how to recover their previously good performance.
As well as good children's services, services should be available to
support parents with their own social care needs.
Younger people with disabilities are losing out from current models
of care.
Support is urgently needed for the 5 million unpaid carers, on whose
work the social care system depends. Councils need to develop comprehensive
support services for carers, including shared care.
People have difficulty in finding the services they need, particularly
if they are paying for their own care.
Services run by voluntary organisations, both residential and domiciliary
care, significantly out-perform those run by local councils and those
in the private sector.
Good management makes a difference. Services that meet the management
standard perform far better against national minimum standards than
those who do not.
Dame Denise Platt added:
"This is the first time a report like this has been published and we
hope that decision-makers nationally and locally will respond. There
may be another opportunity to produce a similar assessment of the state
of social care next year, but after that the agenda will be set by different
organisations, with the result that social care may be seen as an 'add-on'
to other services. There is a unique opportunity now to make real, lasting
improvements to social care – this opportunity should not be wasted."
Source : CSCI
