Care services for children and elderly “under pressure”

Care services for children and elderly people need to improve, a major social work review has found. A four-year study of Scotland’s 32 local authorities revealed a “mixed picture” as services cope with rising demands and a squeeze on resources.

Resources are “under pressure” at a time of rising need and “progress was slow” in shifting care from hospitals to homes.

The number of over-85s is expected to increase by 45% in the next eight years, further straining services and leading to more demand in care for dementia and mental illness.

The report, Improving Social Work in Scotland, found large increases in the number of young children being looked after in services that “varied widely”.

Inconsistent approaches to risk assessment and the threshold for intervention across authorities were found, but children said they were mostly happy with the care they had received.

Not working well

The report described a lack of planning for long-term security in children’s services, which cost £705 million to run in 2007-08.

Elderly care services, which account for almost half of social work spending, were also varied.

“Excellent examples” of home-care services were found but the report warned that some are “not working well”.

Alexis Jay, chief social work inspector, said: “Whilst our findings provide a mixed picture of how social work services are performing, it is important to stress that the vast majority of recommendations we made throughout our four-year programme have been addressed and the overall quality of services has improved.

“Social work services are now faced with rising demands against a background of severe constraints on resources.

“This makes it all the more important that resources are used in the most effective and efficient ways possible.”

The 154-page document also covered the criminal justice system and delivered mixed reports.

Robust

It stated: “Agencies were working better together in their work with sex offenders than in their work with serious violent offenders.”

Support was inconsistent for unpaid carers, with almost one in eight people in Scotland estimated to be looking after one or more people.

Leadership in authorities was good in most councils but “weak or unsatisfactory” in five.

Children’s Minister Adam Ingram said: “This report shows that the majority of people using social services and their carers value this support and the difference it makes to their lives, and that our robust inspection regime is helping to drive forward improvements.

“Clearly, however, there is further work to be done to ensure that wherever people live they get the highest possible standard of care and support.”