Adult Social Care Survey 2023

The Adult Social Care Survey provides data for some of the national indicators within the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework (ASCOF). These are national performance indicators for Adult Social Care.

Performance in 2023 improved compared to 2022 in three of the seven areas. However, when compared to England overall the council ranked comparatively well on only two of the seven indicators:

• the proportion of people who use services who found it easy to access information about support, where 68.7% responded positively (an increase from 60.3% in 2022) and the council ranked 57^th out of 150 councils
• the proportion of people who used council services who reported that they had as much social contact as they would like, where 45.5% answered positively (an increase from 41.7% in 2022) and the council ranked 64^th of 150 councils

The council performed less well in five areas:

• social care related quality of life, where the council scored 18.9 out of 24 and ranked 79th of 150 councils. For this indicator, a low rank is good
• the proportion of people who use services who have control over their daily life, where 76.4% answered positively and the council ranked 91^st of 150 councils
• the proportion of people who use services who feel safe, where 69.2% answered positively and the council ranked 92^nd out of 150 councils
• the proportion of people who use services who say that those services have made them feel safe and secure, where 85.8% responded positively (an increase from 74.3% in 2022) and the council ranked 92^nd out of 150 councils. This indicator should be looked at alongside the percentage who stated they felt safe overall
• overall satisfaction of people who use services with their care and support, where 60.2% answered positively and the council ranked 121^st of 150 councils

Table showing Cambridgeshire, Eastern Region and England ASCOF indicators

The survey contains eight questions which provide a picture of people’s overall health and factors which may affect that. In 2023, responses to these questions were more positive than 2022 in one area:

• 'A clean and comfortable home', where 64.5% responded that their home was as clean and comfortable as they want. This was better than 63.5% in 2022 but slightly lower than England overall (64.7%)

Also, Cambridgeshire was higher than the national average in one new question:

• 'How often do you feel lonely', where 36.8% never or hardly ever felt lonely, compared to 35.7% in England overall

However, in 2023 the responses around health and health-related factors worsened in the following six areas:

• 'How is your health in general' where 45.3% of respondents felt their health was good or very good. This was lower than 46.6% in 2022 but better than England overall in 2023 (42.8%)
• 'Anxiety or depression', where 49.6% stated that they were not anxious or depressed, lower than the 54.1% in 2022 but better than 49.1% in England overall in 2023
• 'Pain or discomfort', where only 38.9% stated that they felt no pain or discomfort compared to 39.5% in 2022. However, this is better than the 37.1% responding this way in England overall in 2023
• 'Food and drink', where 58.4% stated that they get all the food and drink they like when they want, compared to 64.1% in 2022 and 63% responding this way in England overall in 2023
• in respect of being able to get out and about, 27.9% stated they were able to get to all the places in the local area that they wanted. This was lower than the 29.8% in Cambridgeshire in 2022 and lower than the 29.8% in England overall in 2023
• 'Keeping clean and presentable', where 53.8% of respondents felt clean and able to present themselves in the way that they like. This was lower than the 57.9% in 2022 and lower than England overall in 2023 (56.1%)

Overall, for the questions relating to health and health-related factors, people who completed the survey in Cambridgeshire answered more positively than the national picture on four out of eight of the questions.

The survey asks ten questions around people’s support needs and what they can do for themselves. In 2023, in two areas relating to people’s level and type of care needs there was an increase in positive responses since 2022, these were:

• 'Managing to use the toilet by yourself', where 56.2% answered positively. This was slightly higher than in 2022 (55.5%) but lower than England overall in 2023 (59.2%)
• 'How well your house is designed to meet your needs', where 88.2% answered positively, higher than 2022 (86.1%) and higher than England overall in 2023 (84.3%)

However, in 2023 responses worsened compared to 2022 in eight areas:

• 'Getting around indoors (excepting steps) by yourself' where 50.3% answered positively. This was slightly lower than 2022 (51.2%) and lower than England overall in 2023 (52.3%)
• 'Managing to get in and out of bed (or chair) by yourself', where 52.5% answered positively. This was slightly lower than 2022 (53.4%) and lower than England overall in 2023 (55.3%)
• 'Managing to wash your face and hands by yourself', where 66.2% answered positively. This was lower than 2022 (68.8%) and lower than England overall in 2023 (69.3%)
• 'Managing to get dressed or undressed by yourself', where 37.9% answered positively. This was lower than 2022 (42.4%) and lower than England overall in 2023 (42.8%)
• 'Managing to wash all over by yourself', using either a bath or shower, where 29.5% answered positively. This was slightly lower than 2022 (29.8%) and lower than England overall in 2023 (32.1%)
• 'Dealing with finances and paperwork (for example paying bills, writing letters) by yourself', where 15% answered positively. This was significantly lower than 2022 (22.5%) and lower than England overall in 2023 (19.5%)
• 'Usually managing to feed yourself', where 74.1% answered positively. This was lower than 2022 (77.9%) and lower than England overall in 2023 (76.3%)
• 'Getting around outside of the house', where 27.9% answered positively. This was lower than 2022 (29.8%) and lower than England overall in 2023 (29.8%)

Overall, those who responded to the survey in Cambridgeshire expressed being less able to do tasks for themselves than respondents across England overall in nine of the ten areas.

There are a range of questions in the survey which explore people’s quality of life and experience of care and support services. In 2023, the reported experience of people who completed the survey improved when compared to the 2022 survey in the following six areas:

• 'Do care and support services help you have control over your daily life', where 91.3% said “yes” out of those who answered either “yes” or “no”. This was an improvement on 90.3% in 2022 and better than England overall in 2023 (88.4%)
• 'Overall, how satisfied are you with the care and support services you receive', where 89.4% were either quite (29.2%), very or extremely satisfied (60.2%). This was higher than 2022 (88.5%) and better than England overall in 2023 (88.1%)
• 88% said that either having care and support made them feel better about themselves or did not negatively affect how they felt about themselves. This was slightly better than the 87.6% in the previous year but slightly lower than England overall in 2023 (88.8%)
• 'In the past year have you found it easy or difficult to find information and advice about support, services or benefits', where 68.7% had found it fairly or very easy to find, excluding respondents who never tried to find information or advice. This was higher than 57.3% in 2022 and slightly higher than England overall in 2023 (67.2%)
• 'How much contact you have had with people you like', where 78.1% had adequate social contact or as much social contact as they liked with the people they liked. This is higher than the 71.2% in 2022 and higher than England overall in 2023 (75.8%)
• 'Choice over care and support', where 73.4% said they had enough choice, excluding respondents who said they did not want or need choice. This was higher than 2022 (72%) and higher than England overall in 2023 (69.8%)

However, in 2023 the reported experience of people who completed the survey had worsened in the following five areas:

• 'How the way I am helped and treated makes me feel about myself', where 88.9% stated it made them feel better (60.1%) or did not affect the way they felt (28.8%). This was slightly worse than 2022 (89.8%) and England overall in 2023 (89.5%)
• 'How you spend your time', where 69.5% stated that they were at least able to do enough of things they valued and enjoyed with their time. This was slightly lower than 2022 (70.5%) but slightly higher than England overall in 2023 (68.2%)
• 'How much control you have over your life', where only 76.4% felt they had adequate control, or as much control as they wanted. This was lower than 2022 (80.3%) and slightly lower than the England average in 2023 (77.2%)
• 'Thinking about the good and bad things that make up your quality of life, how would you describe your quality of life', where 58% responded that it was either good, very good or could not be better. This was a decrease from 2022 (63.2%) and worse than England overall in 2023 (61.4%)
• 'Feeling safe', where 69.2% of respondents stated that they felt as safe as they wanted. This was lower than 2022 (72.7%) and slightly lower than England overall in 2023 (69.7%)

When comparing to England overall, people who completed the survey in Cambridgeshire were more positive on five of the 11 indicators relating to overall experience and outcomes.

Alongside the national questions Cambridgeshire asked two local questions. The first question asked people’s preferred method of contacting the council. The second question asked whether people felt that care workers supported them in a way which respected their background, cultural life and religious beliefs. As these are local questions, there is no benchmarking available with England overall.

How do you prefer to contact the council or other services?

* People were able to choose multiple options when answering this question.

Of those people who answered this question, 58.5% did not directly contact the council themselves but relied on someone else to communicate on their behalf. Also, it was noticeable that digital forms of contact (online forms/chats, texts and emails) were the least selected options.

Do your care workers support you in a way that respects your background, cultural life and religious beliefs? (standard version of the survey)

Of those people who answered this question, 89.6% said that care workers usually or always respected their background, cultural life and religious beliefs.

Do your care workers support you in a way that respects your background, cultural life and religious beliefs? (Easy Read version of the survey)

A - Do your care workers support you in a way that respects how you grew up?

B - Do your care workers support the way you choose to live your life?

C - Do your care workers support your religious beliefs?

Of those people who answered these questions on the Easy Read version of the survey:

• 96% felt care workers always or most of the time supported them in a way which respected how they grew up
• 93.6% felt that care workers always or most of the time supported the way they chose to live their life
• 92.7% felt that care workers always or most of the time supported their religious beliefs

The responses to the survey and the analysis will be used to inform our service improvement and service development work.

Also, we will share the results with staff and stakeholders, including the Care Quality Commission.