By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
Consultants will be brought in to help turn Gloucestershire adult services around and provide better care as Shire Hall chiefs approve a £4m investment plan.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated Gloucestershire County Council’s adult social care as needing improvement in January this year.
Shire Hall chiefs have now set out a plan which they describe as a “smart” investment which will provide better care and make their teams stronger and more confident for the long term.
Councillor Kate Usmar, adults’ support and independence cabinet member (LD, Tewkesbury East) presented the report at this month’s cabinet meeting.
She said bringing an external improvement partner in to support the team deliver their “prevent, reduce, delay” transformation initiative will make adult social care better for everyone in Gloucestershire.
The county is expected to see a doubling of the over 85 population in the next two decades, she told the meeting at Shire Hall on September 17.
“We’ve got no prospect of a matching increase in funding to meet this need,” she said.
“We are working hard but how do we know what we are doing works when we’re lacking systems to adequately monitor the effects of what we do.”
She said the council needs to support residents to maintain their health, wellbeing and independence for as long as possible.
Cllr Usmar also said the teams are working hard to change how they support people by focusing on helping people earlier and reducing long term care needs and improving lives.
“To do this well, at speed and within budget, we need expert help,” she said.
“The improvement partner will bring in specialist skills to measure what we are doing, make sure changes last and support our teams to do more for themselves.
“They will be training, building up our own staff so we can carry on the work long after the contract ends.
“This will help us respond to the CQC’s required improvement rating and make sure our services are sustainable and focused on prevention.
“This is a smart investment, in better care, better outcomes and better value for money. It will leave our teams stronger and more confident.
“Our adult social care services have been assessed by the CQC as requiring improvement,” she said.
“This isn’t a comment on our staff. I’ve met so many of our staff across the county in the last few months and I know we have wonderful, kind, dedicated staff delivering care o our most vulnerable residents.
“But it is a wake up call that we’ve got to change the way that we do things.
“We’ve got rapidly increasing demands on our services.”
Deputy leader Colin Hay (LD, All Saints and Oakley) said that bringing people in to help and to train “will be seen as consultants by some.
“But this is them at their best,” he said.
“It brings to mind that proverb, give a person a fish and you feed them for the day, teach them to fish and they can feed themselves from there on in.”
Cabinet unanimously agreed the proposals which will lead to an 18 month contract with an improvement partner and will cost up to £4m.