Progress is being made to improve sheltered accommodation in South Shields

Clasper Court, in Heron Drive, South Shields, was marked ‘Requires Improvement’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), a government watchdog, in a report published early this year.

The rating followed an inspection of the ‘extra care’ service, also known as ‘sheltered housing’ in which people have self-contained homes as well as access to care, which found it was ‘Good’ in four out of five areas, including safety, but needed to overhaul its management and leadership.

At a meeting of South Tyneside Council’s Children and Adults Safeguarding Panel on Wednesday, December 4, councillors were told problems of contact between workers and managers was being addressed.

“Staff say they feel listened to and that there is better morale,” said Peter Hunter, the council’s adult social care programme manager, “we now have new management arrangements in place and on-call support is on hand.”