ADASS responds to King’s Fund Sector Led Improvement Report

ADASS welcomes the King’s Fund commentary on Sector Led Improvement work.

Our surveys of Directors of Adult Social Services show that there are increasing needs from hospital activity (or people waiting for hospital), carer breakdown, mental ill health, and domestic abuse. Against this, the workforce is shrinking due to inadequate pay, exhaustion, and lack of recognition, and care markets are extremely fragile, leaving people with fewer choices and more distressing disruption as providers close or hand back contracts.

It is in this context that Sector Led Improvement has been working. Locally and regionally, there have been hives of activity to address collective challenges, share learning from councils that have cracked specific problems and mutual challenges, and support the areas in which individuals are particularly struggling. Initiatives have ranged from recruitment schemes, care market and quality data systems, engagement with people with lived experience, safeguarding learning events, and engagement with the NHS to focus on support at home as well as hospital discharge.

ADASS regions have also been critical, over a number of years, in identifying key issues to collectively inform the Government. They have also been key in responding to and implementing actions resulting from a range of key external events (national provider failure, Brexit planning, pandemic responses ranging from everything from vaccination to PPE to designated premises, legal frameworks, and a host of other initiatives). Some of this has been done from the agreed diversion of improvement funding as well as specific contracts with the Government and a very significant contribution of the voluntary time of ADASS members and staff.

Demonstrating improvement in an environment where needs are increasing and resources (funding and workforce) to meet them are decreasing, is of course a challenge and the investment in improvement is also, of course, a tiny proportion of the investment in NHS improvement – even though more people work in social care than in the NHS.

Councils’ focus has been on tackling these challenges, problem-solving, and devising innovative solutions. While regions routinely share examples of best practice, we have not as yet encapsulated our approach to SLI nationally in an improvement model. That is something we are now working to produce and share.

We are keen to support cohesive, focussed, and effective programmes of improvement that build on, nurture, and support this incredible commitment and vital contribution. We equally challenge the next Prime Minister to seriously address the short and longer-term workforce and resources shortfalls that so tragically impact everyone needing or working in care and support and, because health and care are so critically inter-dependent, any one of us that needs or may need health care or treatment in the winter to come and beyond.