Social care report welcomed by Carmarthenshire Council

Members of Carmarthenshire’s Executive Board have welcomes an ‘excellent’ CSSIW report on the county’s social care services.

The independent report, published by the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales, highlights many areas of improvement across care services for children and adults.
Among its highlights, the report said there was evidence of improved leadership and direction – both of which have helped services to perform well.
Noting the council’s improvement in reducing the number of people entering residential care, the report also recognised the challenges the council faces in continuing to deliver and further improve on its performance.
This was something noted by council Leader, Cllr Meryl Gravell, who referred back to last year’s Full Council decision to reject plans to remodel residential care provision, which would have meant the closure of two homes.
The decision to close the under-performing homes would have saved over £1million and helped with the council’s focussed direction on supporting more people to live independently in their own homes.
Cllr Gravell said: “The closing paragraph of this report refers to the council not being supportive of changes that are needed to deliver better social services. This is one of the main reasons we have got an overspend in social care – because of the surplus of residential care beds. People want to stay in their own homes as much as possible.”
Fellow Executive Board Member Cllr Clive Scourfield added: “Members need to realise the consequence of their actions in not supporting changes that are needed in social care.”
Talking generally about the report, Executive Board member for Health and Social Care, Cllr Pat Jones, said: “This is an excellent report. The Director, and staff, have done an awful lot of work to improve our services. What we are doing here in Carmarthenshire is the envy of other Welsh authorities. We truly are listening to people who want our support to stay in their own homes as long as they can.”
The full report is available to view on the council’s website. Visit www.carmarthenshire.gov.uk