Inspection of Older Adults Services: Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council

We undertook an inspection in collaboration with Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) (External link), and explored how Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council is promoting independence and preventing escalating needs for older adults.

Key Findings

Strengths

Well-being - we found people with complex needs can expect to be supported to live at home for as long as possible with a focus on promoting their independence and ensuring they receive the right service at the right time.

People – voice and choice – we found most mental capacity assessments were undertaken to a good standard and demonstrated verbatim recording of questions asked and the responses people provided.

Partnerships, integration and co-production – we found practitioners who are co-located communicate well and work together to ensure people do not need to repeat their stories.

Prevention and early intervention – we established that Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council has provided people with access to a range of services to support their return home from hospital and maintain their independence, including the provision of minor adaptations by Care and Repair and support services from Age Connect.

Areas for improvement

Well-being – we identified a need for managers to ensure ‘what matters’ conversations are fully embedded in practice to ensure specific personal outcomes people want to achieve are always identified and recorded.

People voice and choice –we identified that the local authority needs to ensure sufficient formal advocacy to meet statutory duties and assure itself practitioners are confident in promoting the service.

Partnerships, integration and co-production – we recommend strengthening links between the local authority, third sector organisations, community coordinators and general practitioner support workers to improve outcomes for people.

Prevention and early intervention – we identified that the local authority and the health board needs to ensure that information, advice and assistance services are more effective and compliant with Part 2 Code of Practice (general functions).

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 Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council.

To view all our findings and recommendations read the full report below.