Welsh residential care services slammed as ‘inconsistent’

Residential care services in Wales for children and adults have been criticised by the Care Standards Inspectorate for Wales for being inconsistent. 
 
The Inspectorate’s fourth annual report, published today, whilst generally praising children’s homes for tackling bullying and improving the way they deal with complaints and problem behaviour, said significant concerns remained over statements of purpose, care plans, numbers and suitability of staff and risk assessments.
 
CSIW said foster services had improved over the year but also highlighted staffing problems, including a lack of support for foster carers, and a lack of information sharing to support placement planning.
 
Residential special schools still need to improve child protection and healthcare planning, health and safety and recruitment and support of staff, it added.
 
The report was particularly critical of the care home sector, which it said had failed to sustain improvements made last year. Record keeping, management of medicines, standards of premises and risk assessment were all areas that needed addressing.
 
“There remains a gap between what service users have a right to expect and the findings in a significant number of care homes across Wales,” the report states.
 
The inspectorate said the number of complaints about children’s and adult’s services had dropped but its protection work increased over the past year.