Performance in 2022/23

The quality of Adult Social Care Performance reporting has been further developed through 2022/23.  A monthly performance report, comprising data and commentary on areas such as service waiting lists, overdue reviews, safeguarding adults, active contract finances, Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework (ASCOF) and Care Home quality has been implemented and is reported on and scrutinised through appropriate governance routes. 

Further development of performance reporting will be undertaken in the months ahead, broadening its scope to encompass all the key areas of Adult Social Care.

Additionally, the use of data visualisation business intelligence platforms like Tableau is becoming more widely used to assist teams working in Adult Social Care to better understand their data and their services. 

Performance at a glance

In 2021/22, changes were made to the way requests for support were recorded, resulting in a sharp increase in recorded volume on the previous year (+10%). With this new recording system operational for a second year, 2022/23 has seen a further increase in the number of requests for support, but marginal compared to the increase seen a year ago, (+1.8%).

The number of people who did not go on to receive a service reduced by 10% on the previous year, from 2,128 in 2021-22 to 1,915. When looked at as a proportion of the total requests for support, 22% did not go on to receive a service in 2022-23, compared to 25% the previous year.

Proportionally there has been a slightly higher use of Short Term reablement services to help people gain independence in 2022-23 than the previous year and a slightly lower use of one off and ongoing support.

An area where Torbay has over several years performed poorly compared to national and regional data is in permanent admissions to residential and nursing care homes (see Appendix 2 ASC 2A). As reported in the 2021-22 Local Account Summary, a large increase in this KPI on the previous year was predominantly due to system and reporting changes. Over 2022-23, the rate of admissions for both 18-64 and 65+ has remained high compared to the national and regional data, but is trending down. In the case of 65+ admissions, the annual data in ASC 2A does show a slight increase, but the rate has been trending down month on month since Q3 of 2022-23. Given work being undertaken to redesign other areas of adult social care at the front end, it is expected the rate will continue to decrease through 2023-24.

Data from the Carers Service shows the number of carers on the Carers Register increasing by 9.7% on the previous year. This follows a 7.7% increase the previous year. Increases in the Carers Register is aided by all major health and care organisations in Torbay having signed a Commitment to Carers, supporting the identification of carers and signposting to services.

The number of carers with direct payments reduced by 13.7% compared to 2021-22. This may be a result of an increase in the use of the Carers Emotional Support scheme.

The number of safeguarding concerns raised was 16.3% higher in 2022-23 compared with the previous year. This increase is partly attributable to a large-scale safeguarding enquiry undertaken in response to safeguarding adult concerns within a care home which received an inadequate CQC rating. Another care home had also seen a larger than normal level of concerns raised. This has been closely monitored by Quality Assurance and Safeguarding Adults teams through a Provider of Concern process, contract monitoring and a Supporting Action Plan including ongoing monthly meetings.

Annual survey

Every year adult social care services across the country carry out an annual user satisfaction survey. The questions are set by central government and help us ascertain the experience of adults in receipt of support.  The results of the survey help us inform our future priorities and identify any areas for needed improvement. 

National benchmarking data is published in the autumn each year. 

In total 363 completed surveys were returned in 2022/23, down from 402 the previous year. There have been positive moves in the direction of scores in the ASCOF Domains 3 and 4, which are sourced from the Adult Social Care Annual Survey and concern satisfaction levels and feeling safe (see Appendix 2). 

68.6% of service users said they were overall satisfied with the care and support services they receive, slightly up from 67%. Historically, we have reported similar figures which indicates the service is likely to remain in the top quartile for England.

84% of those who completed the standard survey rated their quality of life as alright or better, which is no significant change from 2022 (85%). 

The proportion of people who say they find it easy to find information about services increased marginally from 72.1% in 2021-22 to 73.4% in 2022-23. Front End services continue to refer into Torbay Community Development Trust (TCDT) as part of the ongoing ASC Front Door pilot initiated in 2021. This pilot supports the transfer of queries to the TCDT Helpline for support and signposting to the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector. Options for further improvements will be explored following the release of the diagnostic work undertaken by Newton Europe.

The proportion of people who use services who say they feel safe increased from 64.8% in 2021-22 to 68.5% in 2022-23, and the proportion who say that those services have made them feel safe and secure increased from 85.2% to 89.0%.

The increases in performance relating to these survey questions is a reversal of what was reported a year ago, which saw a drop in performance across many of these questions. However, it should be noted that differences in survey KPIs are not always statistically significant due to survey margin of error and response rates. A general upward trend in these questions may also be a consequence of moving out of Covid, with the pandemic likely to have had a negative effect on responses to these questions in the previous years.