Plans to improve adult social care services to be revealed
Proposed plans to fast-track improvements to adult social care provision after a recent Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection are set to go before Wirral councillors.
At a meeting of the council’s Adult Social Care and Public Health Committee, elected members will be asked to consider the proposed plans, which seek to change the way that services are run, to increase efficiency, improve feedback and shorten wait times.
The CQC’s findings, published in January 2025, followed an inspection in September 2024 and covered challenges which need to be overcome in order to make positive system-wide changes. Wirral Council received an overall score of 59, just three points away from a ‘good’ rating of 62.
The inspection praised the authority’s person-centred approach, which puts people at the heart of decisions about their care, along with the co-production of services in collaboration with residents. While there were positives, areas requiring improvement included equity in experience, safeguarding and sustainability.
Some of the actions to improve services, as outlined in the report, include:
- Reducing assessment wait times and increasing helping people stay independent for longer by focussing on prevention, with Occupational Therapy services
- Working to recognise the value and contribution of carers – paid and unpaid
- Using resident feedback to create an Early Intervention & Access Hub or ‘Front Door’ which aims to reduce isolation and longer-term care
- Increasing the opportunities for direct payments where appropriate – this is where people arrange their own care to tailor it to their lifestyle specifically
- Improving the response times for Deprivation of Liberty Safeguarding (DoLS) assessments – cutting a backlog by almost half
- Improving the feedback mechanism in response to safeguarding concerns
The report also states that Improvement, Transformation and Change Plans will continue to contribute to reducing future demand for social care, addressing capacity and cost pressures.
The report will be presented to Wirral Council’s Adult Social Care and Public Health committee on 10 June.
Read the full report from the meeting agenda published to the council website – scroll down to item 18.
