Carmarthenshire Social Services have been given a positive annual report for their performance in 2016-17.
It shows that fewer hospital patients are being kept in because of delays in arranging care and fewer children are having to be taken into care.
The report by the county council’s director of community services Jake Morgan, in his capacity of statutory director of social services, has been presented to this month’s meeting of the full council.
He welcomed an evaluation by the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales which said: “The local authority continues to benefit from strong leadership across adults and children’s services, with good stability and effective support for its workforce.
”Good progress on the implementation of the Social Services and Well-Being (Wales) Act (SSWBA), and has placed significant importance and investment on ensuring new ways of working are understood by staff and partner agencies and embedded into practice. A project board is in place with a clear action plan aligned to the SSWBA, and key milestones have been and continue to be achieved.”
The director’s report reveals that the improvement of preventative services for children has been a real success with more children being kept at home.
A commissioning framework for domiciliary care allows more flexibility so that visits to vulnerable people are not cut short.
Mr Morgan said: “We will further increase the supply of extra care through the Delta Lakes development, building on the success of the Extra care developments in Ammanford and Carmarthen. We are retaining our current in house residential provision whilst considering what capital investment will be needed to improve the physical environments.”
There has been a reduction in the number of delayed transfers of care for hospital inpatients for social care reasons such as waiting for home adaptations, residential care placements, or funding. The report also identifies areas for improvement including the need to improve the regularity of reviews of care packages.
The executive board member for social care and health Cllr Jane Tremlett said: “This is a positive report influenced by an excellent joint scrutiny committee and strong leadership across adult and children’s services. I thank all our social services staff for their appropriate and timely services to the people of Carmarthenshire. At the heart of all we do is the wellbeing of the individual, ensuring our communities are resilient communities.”
To see the report go to Annual Statutory Director’s Report on the Performance of Social Services in Carmarthenshire or go to www.carmarthenshire.gov.wales.
