Inspectors Critical of Adult Social Care in the Borough
Watchdog says people made to wait too long to have needs assessed
Care Quality Commission found shortfall in 8 out of 9 areas. Picture: Rawpixel.com
May 9, 2025
The care watchdog has said Hammersmith and Fulham Council’s adult social care service ‘requires improvement’. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said eight of nine areas showed some shortfalls while plans to improve access to care “hadn’t been fully implemented”, a recent inspection found.
Inspectors said some people waited 18 months to be assessed and reported carers in the borough experienced higher levels of financial hardship and felt less safe than the England average. Hammersmith and Fulham Council said it is committed to providing the best service and care possible for residents and their families.
The CQC said it found people struggled to understand the care system, particularly those with no digital access and those whose first language was not English. It also found occupational therapy assessments being delayed, which the watchdog said prevented people from accessing equipment or adaptations to help them stay independent.
James Bullion, CQC’s Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care and Integrated Care, said, “Hammersmith and Fulham were committed to providing good access to care but their plans hadn’t been fully implemented or matured enough to show effective results yet.
“For example, the authority knew people were waiting too long to have their care needs assessed, with an average wait time of two months, with some people waiting more than 18 months. The local authority had started a new screening process to manage people waiting and prioritise those most at risk, but there is still significant work to do.”
Mr Bullion said unpaid carers also faced delays in assessments but went on to have a positive experience with the system.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Hammersmith and Fulham Council. Mr Bullion praised the number of people regaining independence after a hospital stay thanks to the council’s support – a service which was rated outstanding by the CQC in a separate inspection.
He said, “It was impressive that 96per cent of people aged 65 and over were still at home after hospital discharge with the authority’s support, which was much higher than the England average. This support played a key role in preventing unnecessary hospital re-admissions and the need for more formal support or long-term residential care.
“We were also pleased to see the local authority’s commitment to involving people using services to help design them. One of the co-production groups had been recognised nationally for its innovation which had provided opportunities for disabled people to voice their concerns and drive changes.”
The CQC also said the council ran an ‘Outstanding’ service providing short stay respite care and emergency accommodation to autistic people but still had to widen its offer. It also found no specific quality plan for adult social care services nor did the council hold data showing if inequality existed in the system.
The CQC said there was “some shortfalls” in how the council worked with people, how it supported care recipients and with its leadership. It found the council was ‘Good’ at creating safe pathways, systems and transitions.
It comes as data from the Survey of Adult Carers in England for 2023/24 showed 65pc of carers in Hammersmith and Fulham experienced financial difficulties. A large proportion – 45pc – were not in paid employment because of their caring role while only 19pc had as much social contact as they wanted.
These were all significant negative variations from the England average, which were 46pc, 26pc and 30pc, respectively.
A council spokesperson said, “We have reviewed the feedback from the CQC’s review in 2024. We are committed to providing the best service and care possible for residents and their families.
“And we are confident that our programme of continued transformation – working alongside our statutory and third sector partners – will continue to help us do just that.”
The council also opened the Centre for Independent Living in 2023 – a unit which was co-designed with local disabled people. It now acts as a hub and provides direct payments support, employment, welfare benefits services and training.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service also understands the council is creating a single directorate to bring children’s services, adult social care and public health under one roof. Hammersmith and Fulham is the only local authority to abolish all home care charges for older and disabled residents, the council website shows.
More than 5,000 local people have now been supported via the free service, which has been in place since 2014. It offers non-means-tested home care and daycare services without charge for all residents with eligible care needs for the last 10 years.
Adrian Zorzut - Local Democracy Reporter