Care Quality Commission (CQC) rates Buckinghamshire Adult Social Care as ‘good’

This rating reflects the Council's efforts to ensure people have access to care and support under the Care Act (2014). The CQC assessed nine areas across four themes, including how the Council works with people, provides support, ensures safety, and promotes leadership and innovation.

Councillor Isobel Darby, Buckinghamshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing said:

"We are incredibly proud of what we have accomplished with our adult social care services. The report has shown how knowledgeable, skilled, and passionate our workforce is. The strengths identified are testament to the commitment of our colleagues to providing the best outcomes through hard work, dedication, and skills.

This has been a real joint effort, and we are pleased that CQC have acknowledged our work in providing an effective service to keep adults safe. This success would not have been possible without the unwavering support and collaboration of our partners.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to all who have contributed to this inspection. Together, we are making a real difference in the lives of our residents and will continue to focus our efforts on making improvements based on the recommendations provided, as well as continuing with our broader improvement journey across organisations to ensure the support for adults in Buckinghamshire is high quality and effective."

During the assessment, the CQC found strong leadership and staff who are passionate about delivering high-quality care. Our leaders understand the local population well, and our staff show genuine enthusiasm for supporting people across the county. People told the CQC they felt well-supported when moving between health and social care services. For example, after surgery, our staff not only arranged physical care at home but also considered people’s social needs, helping them reconnect with their social groups.

Our staff are proactive in planning hospital discharges for people with mental health needs. Dedicated social workers within inpatient teams ensure timely assessments and discharges. We also hold weekly multi-agency meetings, including commissioning and housing partners, to remove barriers for those discharges. Our personalised reablement support offer was deemed particularly strong.

Our integrated transfer of care hub significantly reduced hospital discharge delays from 43 to 28 days. In many cases, our staff secured care support for people within two hours. We also collaborate with housing services to support safe and timely discharges.

We demonstrate a strong commitment to inclusion and prevention. We work with underrepresented communities such as the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community, asylum seekers, and ethnic minority groups to address inequalities in accessing care. We effectively listen to our residents and act on their feedback. For example, we supported unpaid carers to shape new strategies, making them feel seen. We also use data to shape services and look at ways to prevent ill health.

The assessment team also found that we actively promote prevention by embedding a strong offer across the organisation, supporting independence, and improving people’s health and wellbeing. This can be seen for example through our Opportunity Bucks programme. Our staff support people to quickly access equipment and minor home adaptations that help them stay independent and remain in their own homes. We deliver urgent equipment without delay and keep the average waiting time for all equipment at seven days.

Our leaders provide excellent training and support to deliver strengths-based care, using a well-established, evidence-based framework. Our staff demonstrate how they apply holistic, strengths-based assessments effectively. We design and promote targeted services to improve people’s health and wellbeing.

We have designed an accessible website that includes a chatbot, providing tailored advice and connecting people directly to trained contact centre staff. We enforce clear safeguarding policies and ensure our staff consistently follow processes to keep people safe.

We continue to strive for excellence, and we recognise the need for improvement in the experience of young people with learning disabilities as they move into adulthood from children's to adult services. We will ensure that all the learning from the CQC assessment is taken forward through our improvement programme.

The full assessment can be found on Care Quality Commission's website here: https://www.cqc.org.uk/care-services/local-authority-assessment-reports/buckinghamshire-0725

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