Adult social care in Wirral 'requires improvement'

Adult social care provision in Wirral has been rated as "requiring improvement" by the independent regulator.

Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors identified gaps in the care provided by Wirral Council for young people with complex needs and mental health issues, as well as low levels of uptake for support in some areas.

The watchdog also found more work needed to be done to engage with people from minority ethnic backgrounds, adding that Wirral Council recognised this.

The local authority's adult social care lead, Councillor Julie McManus, said the CQC's assessment was "disappointing" but stressed an improvement plan was in place.

The CQC report found people from Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds were not equally accessing drug and alcohol services.

Inspectors also said Ukrainian and other communities were "harder to reach".

The CQC's chief inspector of adult social care and integrated care, James Bullion, said: "People reported that making initial contact could be difficult and that they had to repeat their stories and experiences multiple times."

Mr Bullion also said some backlogs could have been a risk to people's wellbeing.

But he praised the council for supporting people to return home from hospital when they are ready to do so, and "in some cases helped to avoid hospital admissions at all".

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said adult social care costs continued to put Wirral Council's finances and other services under extreme pressure.

Despite savings measures, the department still faces going over budget by £6.5m.

According to a report published in October, this is being driven by increasing demand, with the number of people in care rising by about 1,000 in the two years to January 2024.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas to [email protected] and via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.