Date: 27 November 2007 21:30

 PROMISING PROSPECTS FOR FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS TO ADULT SUPPORT SERVICES

Government Inspectors have identified that Cambridgeshire County Council has 
'promising' prospects of making further improvements to social service's 
support for adults in the county.

The Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) makes an annual assessment 
and judgement on Adult Social Care Services, drawing from information 
collected throughout the year, from:

* Regular meetings with the CSCI Business Relationship Manager
* An annual Self Assessment Survey
* Fieldwork inspections
* An annual review meeting between the CSCI and the County Council

As a result, CSCI judged Adult Support Services in Cambridgeshire, as 
'serving some people well' with 'promising capacity to improve,' and awarded 
the service a one star rating. Last year the service was assessed as
'serving some people well' with 'uncertain' prospects for improvement.

CSCI Inspectors singled out several areas of adult support services in 
Cambridgeshire for praise, including:

* Adult safeguarding arrangements are very sound and under committed 
leadership
* There is an effective complaints procedure and the number of complaints is 
low
* More older people with high levels of need are being helped to live at 
home
* Intermediate care is improving helping people to leave hospital earlier
* There has been a reduction in older people being placed in residential 
care
* People with learning difficulties receiving direct payments is better than 
comparator authorities
* The number of people with mental health problems receiving direct payments 
exceeded the council's target
* Drug and alcohol team provide appropriate treatments with people 
completing their treatment programme
* The delivery of items of equipment to people with physical and sensory 
disabilities is generally prompt
* Carers of older people are consulted and involved in decision making and 
support for carers is good

County Council Cabinet Member for Enhanced Services (which incorporate 
services to adults and older people), Councillor Fred Yeulett, said: "We are 
pleased that the hard work of our staff and those working within our partner 
organisations to improve services for older people has been recognised by 
the CSCI Inspectors, but we would be the first to acknowledge that we still 
have much to do to meet the aspirations of the public and to improve the 
services we provide.

"We are committed to making our services better and we will continue to 
concentrate on what we have to do to further improve our performance within 
the resources available to us and in the light of the ever growing demand 
from older people for services which is not matched by increased funding 
from the Government."

Cambridgeshire is the fastest growing county in the country and the fastest 
growing sector of the population is among the over 65s. Some of the 
pressures the council knows it faces as a result, include:

* Demand for social care is rising by 6% a year. In the next three years 
alone there will be over 6,400 more older people in Cambridgeshire, many of 
whom will require social care
* The number of people receiving care packages rose by 12% between 2004 and 
2006 and is expected to rise again
* The number of people aged 85 and over in Cambridgeshire is expected to 
increase by 1,200 over the next 3 years, adding further to the increasing 
demand on social services
* In the last 2 years there has been a 21% increase in the number of people 
with learning disabilities using social services

The County Council currently provides 96,573 hours of home care to around 
11,700 people a week with some people receiving three visits a day. The 
Council also support around 5,00 older people in residential care homes and 
nursing homes.

John Reynolds