This morning the Care Quality Commission (CQC) released its report on the London Borough of Harrow's Adult social care. In this report Harrow is rated as ‘requires improvement.’
This is a strong requires improvement rating and we are just small step away from a ‘good rating’. We are confident in what we need to do to get to a good rating.
Harrow was one of the first local authorities to be assessed under this new CQC process which looked at nine areas spread across four themes to assess how well Harrow is meeting their responsibilities. We scored good in learning, improvement, innovation and also community and partnership. You can read the full report here
There has been a huge amount of work that has taken place to help the CQC with their assessment and our thanks goes to everyone in Adult Social Care.
Cllr Jean Lammiman, Cabinet Member for Adult Services and Public Health said:
This inspection shows that we are a very small step away from being recognised as ‘good’ by the CQC. We are one of the first in the country to have been assessed through this new process and we’d like to thank the CQC for working with us. There is a clear path to a good rating or better, and we are confident on what we need to do to get there.
The report itself speaks highly of Harrow and that is the testament to the incredible work our staff do and the passion they have in supporting those in our care. There were no surprises, and our self-assessment was also very accurate. We scored ‘good’ in learning, improvement, and innovation. We were also scored strong and were rated ‘good’ on community and partnership which the London Borough of Harrow is known for. They were impressed with our innovative community-based approach where we are going into our communities to provide care and support to residents that is closer to their home.
While we know our strengths, we also know the areas that we can improve on. We are continuing to strengthen our leadership with a permanent team which will give us strong foundation for the future. The organisation has been through a lot of changes recently, but we have ensured that this has not affected the quality of services we deliver for our residents. Our recent Local Government Association (LGA) Corporate Peer Review in February 2024 found that our leadership had a clear purpose and focus. Despite the changes they saw us as a stable organisation. We have now recruited a permanent Strategic Director and DASS with a great track record.
With this, we have every confidence that our plans will bring quality services to make a difference for our residents. We know we can get harrow to a ‘good’ rating very soon - and set our sights on being outstanding in the future.
We are committed to putting our residents first and supporting those most in need. Improvements are already being made so that everyone in our care gets the best support they need and deserve.