Dorset Council is delighted to announce that our Adult Social Care (ASC) services have received a “Good” rating following an assessment by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
In the report published today (4 June), the CQC concluded that “evidence showed a good standard” across the council’s ASC services, noting that prevention is key to our work.
The CQC report highlighted many areas of good practice and rated the service good in:
- Supporting people to live healthier lives
- Care provision, integrity and continuity
- Partnerships and communities
- Safe systems, pathways and transitions
- Governance management and sustainability
- Learning, improvement and innovation
The purpose of the CQC assessments is to understand the performance of Local Authorities and to assure CQC and the Department of Health and Social Care about the quality of care in an area and consider whether any improvements may be required.
Approximately 5,705 people were accessing long-term Adult Social Care support, and approximately 2,065 people were accessing short term Adult Social Care support in 2024/25. Local authorities spend money on a range of ASC services, including supporting individuals.
Key strengths
The council was pleased to hear that prevention and the use of technology are recognised as key to our vision; that people’s needs are being met by our One Council approach to customer service; our staff have a committed strengths-based practice approach and there is good quality care being provided across Dorset.
The report notes how our new safeguarding model is helping to manage the growth in referrals, that our Birth to Settled Adulthood transition journey for young people moving from Children’s to Adults’ Services is good and that we have strong and effective relationships with our voluntary and health sector partners.
Leadership was seen to be open with a strong and well-regarded culture of continuous development. Our outcomes-focused approach to young carers was also praised. The report recognised leaders and staff showed a strong understanding of Dorset’s challenges, including its rural nature, ageing population and areas of deprivation such as Weymouth. This understanding shaped how services wee planned and delivered, leading to some impressive innovation and national recognition.
Councillor Nick Ireland, leader of Dorset Council, said he was delighted with the findings of the recent CQC assessment report, stressing that the result represented a huge effort across the council, its providers, the voluntary sector and partners.
“This report highlights the commitment and dedication of our teams across adult social care, housing and public health in delivering key services to our residents, with fantastic support from our providers and partners.
“The assessment highlights our prevention approach, enabling people to live independently in their own homes for as long as possible, receiving the right care at the right time and in the right place, with the backing of strong community support”
Councillor Steve Robinson, Portfolio lead for Adult Social Care and Health, said he was delighted, but not surprised, that the inspectors had given us a “Good” rating and was encouraged that they had highlighted the open culture in Dorset, our visible leadership and our learning and continuous professional development offer.
“It is great to see that our teams hard work and innovation have been widely recognised, reflecting consistently positive experiences, both for residents, and for unpaid carers. Staff are rightly praised for their strengths‑based, person-centred practice and their key role in delivering improved outcomes across services. The inspectors saw and commented on our success across multiple systems, with strong partnership working enabling effective integration between health, social care and the voluntary sector.
I’m particularly pleased that our vision for prevention was endorsed, especially our new innovative front-door services, early intervention, and reablement models helping people remain independent and reducing demand for long-term care.
The report also highlights Dorset’s success in meeting statutory responsibilities, particularly in how we’ve integrated prevention with commissioning and market shaping. Initiatives such as the Dorset Care Framework and targeted investment in local provision are strengthening service quality, sustainability and choice. We remain committed to delivering improving adult social care services, acknowledging that many people in Dorset depend on this service.”
Councillor Robinson acknowledged more work needed to be done in some areas to improve our services: “There are some improvements to make, especially around loneliness and rurality issues which we had already identified in our improvement plans and I am determined to make improvements in this area as we strive to deliver even better services for the residents of the best county to live in the UK!”.
The report will be available on the CQC website from 0001hrs Thursday – Local authority assessment reports – Care Quality Commission
