Inspection of Older Adults Services: Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council
Our findings and recommendations for Older Adult Services.
We undertook an inspection jointly with Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) (External link), and explored how well Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council (NPTCBC) is promoting independence and preventing escalating needs for older adults.
Strengths
Well-being – we found people can be increasingly confident the local authority recognises adults are the best people to judge their own wellbeing.
People voice and choice – we discovered that NPT Public Services Board is committed to ensuring services are focused on enabling people and communities to be resilient, with the aim of people experiencing seamless, personalised high quality services.
Partnerships, integration and co-production – we found good examples of close working relationships with partners including third sector and independent sector in developing intervention and preventative services to reduce isolation and support people to remain independent.
Prevention and early intervention – we found positive relationships between commissioning teams and providers.
Areas for improvement
Well-being – we recommend that clear lines of communication need to be developed for responding to people who experience delays in assessments; and delays in commencing and accessing some areas of service such as equipment and domiciliary care.
People voice and choice – we identified a need to improve consistency in the level of detail within mental capacity assessments.
Partnerships, integration and co-production – we recommend that more opportunities could be taken for structured joint learning across health and social care specifically in relation to safeguarding thresholds and processes.
Prevention and early intervention – we identified a need to review safeguarding processes to ensure clear pathways and governance arrangements are in place.
Next Steps
CIW and HIW expect the local authority and local health board to give attention to areas for improvement in the report. CIW will monitor progress through its on-going performance evaluation activity with Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council.
To view all our findings and recommendations read the full report below.