CQC has published a final report of Camden Adult Social Care, following CQC Inspection last November. 

Below is a message from Jess McGregor, Executive Director, Adults and Health.

Today we’ve received our report from our CQC inspection – and I’m so proud and delighted to share with you that CQC have given Adult Social Care in Camden a rating of Outstanding. You can see the full report on their website.

This is an incredible result, and it’s the first Outstanding in the country under the new CQC Assurance framework – which is amazing news – so while we worked really hard on this and were hoping for a good outcome, I’m still coming to terms with it!

I want to start with a huge thank you. This is the result of an absolutely incredible effort from everyone in Adult Social Care, and I’m so proud to work alongside all of you. What we do has a really significant impact on people’s lives, and CQC have recognised how seriously we take this, and the care and compassion that you showcase with our residents each and every day. 

This effort was bigger than Adult Social Care, too – of course this rating also reflects on the brilliant support from, and joint work we do every day with colleagues all across the Council to deliver our Care Act duties, as well as the contribution of Members and partners. Many of these colleagues supported us with the development of our self-assessment and in our inspection preparations, or were involved in focus groups or interviews with the inspection team. This was truly a team effort. 

It’s great to have this recognition and this is a proud culmination of all the work we’ve done, but the work doesn’t end here. We see this as a starting point – there is still much more for us to do, and while it’s a brilliant result, I think it’s fair to say that we know we haven’t got everything right, and there are still areas for us to focus and improve on. 

You will have heard us talk about national statutory metrics for adult social care (ASCOF), which we don’t perform so well on. This is picked up in the report and I would encourage people to read the report in full if you get a chance. Through inspection we tried to get across our story around our improvement journey, acknowledging the areas we still need to make improvements in to ensure we offer the best support possible and to support people to live the lives they want to lead. These are reflected in the report, and over the coming weeks and months will provide a useful framework to continue to drive us forward in our improvement journey. 

For now, though, I just wanted to pull out some highlights from the report that I think we should all feel proud of:

Our focus on equity 

We scored incredibly highly on equity, with CQC recognising the priority focus it is given in Camden and what we’re doing to dismantle the obstacles that mean outcomes and life experiences are not equal across the borough. This came through particularly strongly in the way staff talked in the focus groups with the inspectors, and CQC has noted how much work we put in in this space – for example through our data work and the council’s anti-racism work, with early signs of progress reflected in our pulse surveys. It’s great to have this recognition – though we also know there’s still a lot more we can, and will do. This is long-term work we remain committed to.

Working across the council and the system 

The CQC inspection team was impressed by how our entire organisation understands, supports and values Adult Social Care, and recognised that we have excellent relationships with partners. There are some really great examples in the report of how we work with other services, including with children’s services, and with housing. Our work across children’s and adults is critical and continues to be a priority area of focus for us as we strive to work with children’s services in ever closer and more integrated ways. In the context of a national housing crisis and a local homelessness emergency, our relationships and joint working with housing are pivotal in our work to safeguard and support people. 

The way we lead 

CQC was really positive about distributed leadership across our services, with our partners and across the council. You all show leadership in your work every day – and this came across in the focus groups. 

What does this mean for us?

This has been a really long process, and we’ve learnt a lot throughout – not just about our strengths and areas to focus on, but also about what’s important to us as a service, and how we connect with each other. 

We want to use this process to continue to drive us forward in the areas we know we need to improve. So, we want to keep talking with you about this and sharing more reflections on this result over the next days and weeks. Thanks to everyone who was able to join our call this morning – we’re also going to continue our kitchen conversations with SMT members (watch out for the invites), and we’ll be dedicating the next few of these to chatting through the result, answering any questions you may have and discussing any feedback you’d like to understand better.

As we mentioned on the call, we also want to get together on Wednesday 5 March at 4pm in 5PS to celebrate this result and say a big thank you in person – we’ll share an invitation with you shortly. I hope you’ll be able to make it.

For now, though, I want to say a huge congratulations and thank you all again – this is really well-deserved, and I hope everyone’s able to take some time today to enjoy it. The result is a reflection of all your hard work, passion and dedication. You should feel very proud. 

Best wishes, 

Jess

Jess McGregor

Executive Director, Adults and Health