Thank you to SUF members who took part in the Mental Health Focus group as part of this CQC inspection of Suffolk County Council’s Adult Social Care Services, examining “Quality at the heart of care”. The CQC has now rated the Councils Adult Social Care Services as “Good.”
Georgia Chimbani, Suffolk County Council’s Director of Adult and Community Services stated:
“I am delighted to confirm that following extensive assessment as part of the local authority inspection pilot undertaken by the Care Quality Commission, Suffolk County Council has been given the rating of “Good” in relation to the services we provide, and this will be published by CQC today.
This is a fantastic result for Adult Social Care, and I wanted to write and thank you for sharing your lived experience with the inspectors. Your experiences, ideas and opinions have played a massive part in this assessment, and I am very grateful for you having taken the time to get involved.
What we achieved together.
Looking back over the last few months, the amount of work required to complete the inspection cannot be overstated.
- Conducted a thorough Gap Analysis, bringing together themes identified prior to and after the Peer Review, this analysis supported us to better understand the impact we are making.
- Submitted our Self-Assessment, which included over 325 pieces of supporting information.
- Supported the request for case tracking of 50 people’s records from which 6 were selected for detailed analysis.
- Arranged 40 CQC meetings including 4 staff drop-in sessions.
- Ran the LGA staff support sessions for those being interviewed or who may be interviewed – this involved 160 staff.
- Facilitated a survey of care providers.
- Enabled at least 164 people – staff, partners, care providers, carers, and people with lived experiences to have meetings with the inspection team.
- Facilitated inspection team visits to our council offices, Endeavour House, Landmark House, Riverside, and Ipswich Hospital.
What this rating means for Suffolk
Whilst the overall rating for Suffolk is Good, there are specific areas identified by the report which still require improvement. We are in no way complacent; this report makes it clear that we are good – not perfect.
I believe we are in a good place however, as these areas requiring improvement were not a surprise to us. The Peer Review we undertook prior to the CQC assessment had identified many of the same areas that require improvement.
We are already making progress in addressing these areas as part of our wide-ranging service transformation programs, and I look forward to publicly sharing updates as we make progress. Our key areas of focus are:
- Reviewing how people access social care services and improving initial contact and support for people. This will include the introduction of online supported self-assessment for adults and carers as an additional way of engaging with us.
- Undertaking a range of activities and putting in place new strategies that address the challenge of providing suitable care options for people, especially as we see the complexity of cases increase countywide. We will continue to work with the wider care market to strengthen the range of care and support opportunities available for people who need this.
- Developing a ‘Preparing for Adulthood’ model to improve the transitions experience for young people moving to Adult Social Care.
Thank you once again for being involved in the pilot assessment. Whilst there is always more to do and improve upon in something as complex as Adult Social Care, this rating of good shows we have the right people and right priorities to continue to provide good quality care for the people of Suffolk.
Thanks”
Georgia Chimbani
Director of Adult and Community Services
Suffolk County Council