Inspection of older people’s services in Falkirk gets mixed report
A joint inspection of services for older people in Falkirk has highlighted areas of good performance and also made recommendations where further improvements can be made.
The report follows a joint inspection by the Care Inspectorate and Healthcare Improvement Scotland which looked at how well the health and social work services partnership between Falkirk Council and NHS Forth Valley delivered personal outcomes for older people and their carers across the area.
The joint inspection looked at older people’s services in the area and across nine quality indicators, three were found to be good and six were found to be adequate.
The Reablement at Home and Mobile Emergency Care Services were two good examples of early support and intervention services delivering positive outcomes.
The Partnership performed in line with Scottish averages in terms of delayed discharges, emergency admissions and multiple emergency admissions. However, its performance on ensuring the timely discharge of older people from hospital who were medically fit for discharge varied in the months leading up to inspection with Scottish Government targets not being met consistently.
Inspectors from the Care Inspectorate and Healthcare Improvement Scotland said the partnership should now take forward nine recommendations for improvement.
The recommendations for the Partnership include: taking steps to meet Scottish Government delayed discharge targets more consistently; ensure all staff are aware of new service initiatives and communicate and share information more effectively; and the social work service should improve its arrangements for how the public and other agencies access the service.
Further recommendations included that they should also take action to make sure their assessment, care planning and review processes are improved to ensure a better shared approach and understanding of older person’s needs and wishes. Inspectors also recommended the Partnership should improve the number of carer assessments being undertaken and make sure that these, along with support plans, are recorded in the relevant case files.
Karen Reid, the Care Inspectorate’s Chief Executive, said: “By working with our partners we can ensure we build up an accurate picture of how services are performing.
“We want to answer the key question: how well are these services improving the lives of older people?
“Where there is room for improvement we do not hesitate to report on this and expect partnerships to take the necessary action so that everyone in Scotland can access services which meet their needs and respect their rights.”
Robbie Pearson, Director of Scrutiny and Assurance for Healthcare Improvement Scotland, said: “Our joint inspection found that the Partnership provided a range of high quality services to older people and unpaid carers who cared for older people, and that health and social work services staff worked well together to deliver these services.
“In many instances the services transformed older people’s lives, kept them safe and maintained their wellbeing.”
The report of the joint inspection is available here: http://cinsp.in/1K0vKhy
