Social Care Ombudsman responds to CQC report

22 Oct 2021 12:59 PM

Responding to the Care Quality Commission's annual assessment of the state of health and social care in England, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman  Michael King recently said:

“We welcome any spotlight being shone on the adult social care sector and the issues it faces.  In our own review of complaints brought to us as the Social Care Ombudsman, which we published last month, we identified a system that is increasingly failing those who need it most.

 “The faults we find are not usually one-off mistakes – they are more frequently being caused by measures taken to balance the books in a system under immense funding pressures. Our evidence shows the majority of care workers are doing an excellent job in spite of the pressures they are under. It is not the staff, but the pressure that is the problem.

 “All too often, people who use adult social care services don’t have the freedom to shop around for their care or change their circumstances once they are in the system. Without that choice, service failings have an impact on the health and wellbeing of people in care and their families.”