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Care services for vulnerable adults in Hampshire have been given the top rating by Government's independent watchdog for the second year running. CSCI (Commission for Social Care Improvement) has awarded Hampshire County Council's adult social care department its top rating of 3 stars for their performance over the last year (2007/08). In the regional director's comments within the CSCI report it states that "Overall Hampshire has sustained performance at the same time as addressing a challenging financial position and introducing a highly innovative approach to personalisation including an inquiry commissioned by the Leader..." A number of areas were praised in the report, these included the council's engagement with people who use its services and the wider community, its continuing work to improve performance in early intervention and prevention and its work to help people live independently across all adult care groups. Councillor Felicity Hindson, Executive Member for Adult Social Care said: "We are delighted that the hard work of our staff who strive to deliver quality care to vulnerable adults within our community has been recognised. I am particularly pleased that CSCI has picked up on the work of our commission, which has been looking at the future of adult care services. "We are at the beginning of a time of great change for adult social care with much more emphasis being placed on fitting services to the needs of the individual, rather than fitting the individual to the service. Being rated as ‘Excellent' in terms of our capacity to improve with strong performance in terms of leadership and commissioning and use of resources will stand us in great stead to take on the challenges of delivering more personalised services. "CSCI have also noted some areas where we could focus our efforts in order to further improve services and we will be looking at each of these in the coming year. In many cases we have already recognised the issues raised and have plans in place to tackle them such as increasing the provision of Extra Care Housing." CSCI performance rating summary report is available at www.csci.org.uk For more information on the Commission visit http://www3.hants.gov.uk/adult-services/care-is-changing Personalisation means moving away from traditional social care where people are fitted into a limited set of available statutory services. It involves considering a person as an individual with aspirations, as well as needs, and a circle of family, friends and other resources and support mechanisms around them. It's about personal choice, dignity and a more independent way of life for people needing social care services. It introduces the requirement for greater personal responsibility and for individuals to use their own resources, as well as those available through statutory and other services, to meet their needs in the best way possible. For more information visit Hampshire County Council |
