Care Quality Commission (CQC) assessments of local authority adult social services is to begin despite the process for doing so not having been agreed.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) confirmed that the adult assessments were still on course to commence in April. This means it has not bowed to calls from council leaders for a delay, to help them deal with current pressures on services, including severe shortages of care staff, long waiting times for assessments and care and high levels of delayed discharges from hospital.
The government legislated last year, through the Health and Care Act 2022, to place a duty on the CQC to carry out and report on reviews of councils’ performance of their Care Act 2014 duties.
The legislation also provides for the DHSC to intervene and, if deemed necessary, direct improvements at authorities found to be failing.