A new leadership has been appointed at Wirral council after major failures in adult social care at the Merseyside authority. The move follows the intervention of the Local Government Association (LGA), which has stepped in to tackle safeguarding concerns at the council.
Jeff Green is now the new Conservative leader of Wirral council, following the ejection of Steve Foulkes and his cabinet, under which an independent review into adult social at the authority catalogued historic failures in the department.
The review, which was published last month, was carried out after issues were raised by a whistleblower. The report detailed a number of "serious and long-running failures" including:
• People with learning disabilities overcharged for services.
• Employees scared to speak out against management for fear of reprisal.
• Failure to tackle issues raised by employees.
• Poor contract management of external providers of care.
The LGA has now set up an improvement board with the council to measure progress in adult social care at Wirral. Green said a new process for handling whistleblowers was also now in place.
Green told the social care network that he had also taken over as lead member for adult social services at the council, while Graham Hodkinson has been appointed as the new director of adult social services. Green said he was keen to have a hands-on role in the department, which he acknowledged needed huge improvement.
Following the report's findings, Green said adequate safeguarding measures to protect vulnerable people now needed to be put in place.
"It's about increasing the capability, capacity and quality of staff that we have at the council," he said.
Green revealed that the LGA will be involved in helping to improve the council "for the longhaul", and said he didn't want them to pull out too soon, particularly before improvements had been made, as issues at the council "won't be fixed overnight".
"The LGA can get the very best people and show us what 'good' actually is. We want to work with staff here to get the best. So, that's being honest when there is a problem, telling the truth and raising issues. We've also already updated our whistleblowing process as a part of this," he said.
An "independent ombudsman" is expected to be put in place to allow council employees, who feel concerns they raised in the past were ignored, to speak about any issues they have without fear of reprisal.
Green's appointment comes as the Care Quality Commission (CQC) also revealed it had found failings at a private care home for people with mental health needs in the Wirral, during two unnanounced inspections. In a report published on Friday, the regulator identifies a number of areas of concern at the Kingsley House care home in Wallasey, which it inspected last month and in December 2011.
"I have asked the council's director of adult social services why it took an inspection by the CQC for these issues to be uncovered," Green said.
"Each person who has been placed there by the council will have had a care plan in place and each plan should have been frequently monitored. If we find concerns were raised by social workers with senior council managers, I will want to know why nothing was done."
A spokesperson from the LGA was unavailable to comment.
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