Social care deficiencies revealed

SERIOUS concerns have been raised about the effectiveness of an advice system for people needing social care set up after the passing of a new law five years ago.

The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act (2014) placed a duty on local authorities to focus on prevention and early intervention and deliver a wider range of communitybased services through partnerships and multi-agency working.

To do this, councils need to create

a comprehensive “front door” to social care – focused on a wider and more detailed range of information, advice and assistance services.

But a report from the Auditor General for Wales found the wide variation in the availability, visibility, accessibility and quality of information provided by local authorities is resulting in inconsistent take-up across Wales.

Often, says the report, councils do not know where gaps in provision lie.

Without identifying and addressing these gaps, some authorities are still promoting traditional care packages and social services, encouraging dependency rather than promoting independence and self-reliance.

Many carers interviewed continue to experience difficulties finding out what they are entitled to.

One told the team who wrote the report: “I felt there was a lack of care for me. When being assessed for home adaptations I was offered a shower upstairs rather than a stairlift, which would have been far more suited to my late husband’s needs. In the end I had to pay £5,000 of my own money to have a stairlift installed.”

A spokesman for the Welsh Local Government Association said: “Every council is committed to providing all residents in need with information about access to muchvalued social care services in their area, although the way in which services are provided will differ across Wales, reflecting local circumstances including geography and demography, to meet the needs of communities.

“Local government has seen budgets cut by £1bn over the last decade which has profoundly affected councils’ ability to deliver services.”