BRADFORD Council’s health and social care system is set to be reviewed next month by the Care Quality Commission, due to its high levels of performance.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) will be looking at the Bradford system over a week in February to learn about how people move through the care system.

Bradford Council has been picked as it is in the top performing 5% of local authorities in England for “user access and flow”.

The CQC is looking at the top and bottom 5% as part of the review, and will be in Bradford from Monday, February 12, to Friday 16.

It will review the whole system rather than individual organisations, and will focus on older people with complex needs who become delayed in hospitals, and includes dementia but will not focus on working age adult mental health delays.

It will look at how well people move through the health and social care system, focusing on interactions between the two, and how improvements can be made.

The review aims to highlight good practice and put forward recommendations for improvements.

Areas that will be investigated include how the Council manages and supports people to maintain healthy lifestyles and their independence, how people are supported once they have entered the care system, and how people are supported after they have left the care system.

Eight reviews are being carried out across the country, and follows 12 reviews which were carried out last year. Once these further reviews have been completed the full findings will be published in April.

Members of Bradford Council’s health and social care team were invited to a briefing session in London earlier this month ahead of the review.

David Behan, chief executive of the CQC, said: “People should be able to expect good, safe care when they need it, regardless of how this care is delivered.

“And yet we know there is wide variation in how health and social care systems work together, with some local systems working together effectively to ensure people get the right care, while others struggle to do so – these reviews will seek to examine why these levels of variation exist.

“Our intention is that the review findings will highlight what is working well and where there are opportunities for improving how the system works, enabling the sharing of good practice and identifying where additional support is needed to secure better outcomes for people using services.”

A report on the review is being put before the Council’s health and social care overview and scrutiny committee, which will meet at City Hall on Thursday.

Councillor Vanda Greenwood, chair of the committee, said: “Bradford has been performing well in areas of social care, in particular, Delayed Transfers of Care.

“The CQC has recognised this which is why we have been chosen as one of the areas to visit. We have been working really well with our partners in Social Care, but due to the Government not giving us any extra funding, things are very tight.

“I am happy that people are coming to visit us to see what we are doing. We are a learning Council and will certainly be listening to any advice they give us.”

Councillor Jack Rickard (Conservative, Craven) sits on the committee, and said he was looking forward to hearing about the review.

He said: “I’m very pleased Bradford is in the top 5% as you would be.

“Things seem to be going in the right direction, and I am very much looking forward to hearing about the plans for the review at Thursday’s meeting.”