Adult social care provided by Peterborough City council rated as 'Good'

Peterborough City Council has been praised for its adult social care provision. The rating of Good by the Care Quality Commission is a judgement of how well the council is meeting its responsibility to ensure people have access to adult social care and support under the Care Act (2014).

The CQC has a new duty under the Act to assess how local authorities work with their communities and partners to meet their responsibilities.

The CQC looked at nine areas spread across four themes to assess how well the authority is meeting their responsibilities in order to create their good rating. CQC has given each of these nine areas a score out of four with one being the evidence shows significant shortfalls, and four showing an exceptional standard.

The scores were (out of 4): Assessing people’s needs 2 Supporting people to lead healthier lives 3 Equity in experience and outcomes 2 Care provision, integration and continuity of care 3 Providing support for partnerships and communities 3 How the local authority ensures safety in the system, safe pathways, systems and transitions 3 Safeguarding 3 Governance, management and sustainability 3 Learning, improvement and innovation 3

The assessment team found:

- The local authority coordinated well across services and agencies to improve continuity and efficiency of care, with staff developing strong working relationships with health colleagues..

- Staff used reablement to promote independence, with 88.7% of people completing a period of reablement without then requiring long-term care and support.

- Staff worked closely with people with lived experience to co-design accessible forms and develop the learning disability vision. The vision outlines what people with a learning disability want from services and communities.

- The local authority provided a range of support options for unpaid carers, including an emergency planning service offering up to 72 hours of sitting support. If care was needed beyond 72 hours, they would continue until the local authority could provide additional support.

- The local authority explained their prevention and early intervention team brought together teams across adult social care and housing to keep people in their homes as independently as possible.

- Peterborough used feedback from people, including complaints and compliments, to improve services and share learning across teams.

However, the assessment team also found:

- The local authority acknowledged that 363 people were waiting longer than six months for a planned review and is working to improve timely completion of statutory reviews to meet its target.

- Peterborough’s relationships with voluntary and community groups were mixed. Smaller community groups felt they received less support and attention than larger organisations. This made it harder for them to access funding.

Chris Badger, CQC’s chief inspector of adult social care and integrated care, said: “At this assessment, we found people using services in Peterborough often had positive experiences. There were good levels of satisfaction from people and unpaid carers who told us they felt listened to and received a timely response to requests for support. People told us information was accessible, and staff communicated effectively using a variety of formats and support tools.

“When the local authority was planning people’s care, it focused on their strengths and what they could do, as well as what was important to them rather than just what support they needed. With the additional focus on people’s human rights, equality and inclusivity providing options including translation and advocacy, it meant care was really centred around people’s individual needs.

“We also saw Peterborough City Council had strengthened its early help services, offering a wide range of support focused on preventing problems before they escalate. The local authority used digital tools, including artificial intelligence (AI), to better support residents and staff. Leaders also worked closely with local people to shape services. It commissions Healthwatch to run five partnership boards and works with its communities team to hear from groups whose voices are often underrepresented.

“However, the authority doesn’t always complete planned reviews on time, and some unpaid carers said their experiences were mixed. Some told our inspectors they didn't always feel they were offered choices about the support they receive. They recognised these issues and is introducing new ways of working, which it expects will lead to better outcomes for people.

“Overall, Peterborough should be really pleased with the many positive findings in our report and their good rating. They’ve already told us how they’re planning to build on this further with improvement plans and we look forward to returning to see how their plans mature.”

ouncillor Neil Boyce, cabinet member for adult social care at Peterborough City Council, said: “The achievement of a good rating so shortly after the service had made the major move back to a Peterborough only team is a real achievement. It reflects the hard work of the adult's workforce to ensure that we deliver the right outcomes for the people of Peterborough. It also shows that we have the right leadership in place to bring about the best results for those we serve.

“Our efforts to work with partners, our good safeguarding result and the fact that we have embraced digital transformation has particularly impressed both me and the inspectors.

“Notable achievements include our Hey Geraldine chatbot which saves staff time identifying and sourcing Technology Enabled Care, using Magic Notes to ensure social workers have their focus on residents rather than taking notes and our Bridget app which is now used to support carers."

Stephen Taylor, the council’s Executive Director for Adult Social Care and Commissioning, said: “I am absolutely delighted that our service has received a good rating, this is testament to the hard work of our dedicated teams and I would like to thank everyone involved for their outstanding efforts.

“I am particularly proud of the passion and determination of our staff to drive forward our improvements. However, we will not rest on our laurels and are fully committed to continuing to work to improve outcomes for adults in care across Peterborough.”