The Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) is an independent organisation set up by the Government to promote improvements in social care.
Their role is to regulate, inspect and review all social care services in the public, private and voluntary sectors in England. They report their findings to the Government and publish a report to Parliament every year on the state of social care.
Every year CSCI give each council a star rating that shows how well their adult social care service is performing and its ability to improve in the future. The rating ranges from no stars (poor) to three stars (excellent).
Hounslow’s social care service was awarded the top rating of 3 stars, with excellent outcomes and excellent capacity for improvement. Across England only 20 councils achieved this rating.
How do CSCI inspect services?
CSCI use a variety of different methods to inspect adult social care services. They range from:
- listening to the views of people who use social care services
- judging how well local services actually meet the needs of people who use them
- judging and assessing the range and quality of services provided including the day centres, care homes and home care services
- judging the quality of advice, guidance and information the council provides
- judging whether local people get value for money
- judging the speed and quality of assessments and care plans
- looking at the complaints and how they were handled and
- scrutinising policies and procedures.