Council responds to watchdog review over social care delays

Hackney Council has said its social care is improving. Photograph: London Borough of Hackney

Hackney Council has stressed its social care is improving in the borough after a watchdog slammed the authority over assessment delays.

Last week (2 March) the Health in Hackney Scrutiny Commission responded to a recent Care Quality Commission (CQC) review which gave Hackney’s adult social care services a ‘Requires Improvement’ rating.

Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care and Integrated Care, Chris Badger, highlighted that some people the council considered as lower risk were waiting up to two years for a remote care assessment.

Cllr Chris Kennedy, Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care, said the verdict was “not unfair”.

“We clearly weren’t as on top of [assessment times] as we should have been,” he said. Cllr Kennedy added that the service was now “moving in the right direction” and shared his disappointment that Hackney’s score (62/100) had left it on the cusp of a ‘Good’ rating.

However, scrutiny committee Chair, Cllr Ben Hayhurst (Labour), put pressure on the council for not being up front about service problems before the report was published. He said the committee had noticed the assessment delays “for a while” but officers had explained this was a national issue.

It had taken the CQC’s review for councillors to get a “reflective answer”, Cllr Hayhurst said. Cllr Kennedy said Cllr Hayhurst was “right to feel dissatisfied about what you were told earlier”.

Alongside assessments, the CQC report marked Hackney down for continuity of care, safeguarding and for delivering safe pathways, systems and transitions. The watchdog flagged that some young people moving from children’s to adult’s social care did not get an assessment until they turned 18, meaning care and support plans weren’t in place to help them through this change.

Cllr Ben Lucas (Labour) said: “Fundamentally, if we’re not providing safety for residents, what is the point of the service? That should be our number one priority.”

Director of Adult Social Care Operations, Georgina Diba, said: “My apologies to [the committee] if it was felt that we haven’t been transparent.”

She said officers had shown councillors data on assessment times before the report came out, and explained that the council was trying to cut waiting times for priority individuals while demand was rising but staffing had stayed the same.

On safeguarding, the senior officer argued that the CQC’s report was “balanced” and recognised the council’s knowledge, skills and practitioners. Ms Diba said the watchdog had inspected Hackney during the middle of a new transition pathway for young people moving into adult’s social care, which had now launched.