Rotherham Adult Social Care continues its excellent performance

The Care Quality Commission, which regulates social care provision in England, has announced that Rotherham Borough Council is either 'performing excellently' or 'performing well' in the way that it delivers care for adults.

In its Annual Performance Assessment, inspectors grade seven different categories on a four-point scale from poor to excellent. Our of the seven areas, four have been rated as 'performing excellently' with the remaining three being rated as 'performing well'.

The report also shows evidence of improvements - demonstrating that Rotherham has been making year-on-year improvements.

In what is the final judgement under the current inspection regime, the authority was judged to be performing excellently in improved health and emotional well-being; making a positive contribution; freedom from discrimination and harassment; and in economic wellbeing.

In the remaining three categories of improved quality of life; increased choice and control and maintain personal dignity and respect, the authority was judged to be performing well.

Cllr John Doyle, Cabinet Member for Adult Independence, Health and Well Being, said he was delighted that the Care Quality Commission has officially recognised the excellent service being provided to the Borough's most vulnerable residents.

He added: "Although difficult decisions have had to be made in the past and will no doubt, have to be faced in the future, our underlying goal is to support our vulnerable residents with the best possible services that they need and that we can provide.

"Through our extensive consultation events we have worked with our customers and believe we have a good understanding of the needs of the people of Rotherham, which is why the CQC report reveals the progress we have made over the years."

The following outcomes are just some of the reasons why the Care Quality Commission has rated the adult social care service as 'performing excellently' this year. Progress made includes:

• Carried out an additional 1,000 reviews
• Carried out an additional 422 assessments
• Raising awareness of safeguarding through publicity, leaflets and radio campaigns - resulting in more people raising safeguarding alerts with us
• Undertaken 964 more mental health reviews
• Provided 16,683 pieces of minor equipment to help people live at home
• Reduced the average waiting time for an Occupational Therapist from 80 days to 16 days
• 632 people are in receipt of a weekly Direct Payment
• Assessed an additional 356 carers to ensure they receive the support they need to continue caring
• Reduced the time that people wait for an assessment and for their care package
• Reduced complaints by 13 per cent. 100 per cent of complaint investigations were carried out in timescale and improved satisfaction with the way complaints are handled
• Overall satisfaction with social care services is 97 per cent over the last 12 months - an increase from 94 per cent
• 95 per cent of customers are satisfied our services helped them to feel safe
• Assessed by CQC as 'Performing Well' for Safeguarding Adults in 2009 inspection.  One of the best scores for Safeguarding in the country under the new inspection regime.
• The first council in the country to achieve the Government's Customer Service Excellence Standard - resulting in the authority being recognised as national best practice

The Care Quality Commission has assessed the quality of services as a Grade 4: 'Performing excellently'.  This recognises that overall Rotherham's services are delivering well-above the minimum requirements for people. 

The report highlights that:

• Rotherham continues to work well with its partners in the ongoing redesign and transformation of adult social care. Through our innovative Visioning Days we have worked with our customers and their carers to develop Rotherham's Personalisation Plan and Service Plan 2009/12. We have reviewed our Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) which means that we have a good understanding of the future needs of people in Rotherham. We use this analysis to develop our plans for 2010/11. We have used this analysis to support our financial calculations and have used this to support additional investment into community based services, into direct payments, extra care housing and assistive technology.
• Joint work with NHS Rotherham has demonstrated improvements in how healthy people are. There has been a reduction in levels of obesity, an increase in the number of people stopping smoking and an increase in the number of people that have had cardiovascular disease risk screening.
• The Council has received a number of local and national awards in recognition of its services to its customers that has been transformed to deliver improved access to all services, for leadership, for Improvement and Transforming Services, and for their vision and approach to personalisation.
• The Council has used a number of ways to meet the challenges of personalisation and to be on target against the national milestones. Examples such as a series of visioning events for customers, a Personalisation Awareness Week, support for personal budgets for all service user groups and workforce development and training in all sectors.
• Safeguarding vulnerable adults has been seen as a priority for the council and partnership work with external agencies has improved. Safeguarding referrals are completed in a timely manner.
• The assessment reports that Rotherham's Cabinet Members have been visible and an effective part of the progress of transformation and change.  The authority has delivered 94 per cent of its agreed performance targets and can demonstrate an overall improvement in performance figures.