Labour councillor Angela Wilkins is pointing the finger at Bromley Council, saying they went into a care strategy meeting with no knowledge of a damning inspection report into one of their care providers.

At its meeting on Wednesday, July 20, Bromley’s Executive discussed its future procurement strategy for domiciliary care in the borough.

During the meeting, Labour leader Angela Wilkins says she asked the executive if they were aware of the recent highly critical report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on Caremark, who care for 189 people in the Borough.

Cllr Wilkins said: "It was clear that Cllr Robert Evans, portfolio holder for care services, and other members of the executive were not."

The report states that all areas inspected “require improvement” and there are numerous instances where the services provided “do not comply with regulations”.

Caremark is one of 24 domiciliary care providers commissioned by Bromley Council, and Cllr Wilkins says the report is a reflection on the failure of how the borough provides care services.

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Cllr Wilkins told News Shopper: “Once again we see Bromley Tories more interested in saving money than in the quality of services provided to residents.

“Last year’s budget for Adult Care Services was under-spent by £4.35 million – and yet here we have vulnerable people put at risk because of what is basically a private company cutting corners on its management processes and resources in order to win contracts.

“It is even more shocking that Cllr Evans, who is responsible for Care Services, hadn’t seen this report, nor had the other members of the Executive.

“It’s just not acceptable that we have councillors making decisions without knowing what is actually happening on the ground.”

An OFSTED report released in June labelled Bromley’s children’s services and safeguarding as “inadequate” in all areas, and inspectors said the service had “widespread and serious” failures that leave children vulnerable.

Following the report, Cllr Evans said Ofsted had "raised the bar" before the inspection on the borough's children's services.

Cllr Wilkins added: “As Labour said in response to the recent Ofsted report on Bromley’s Children’s Services, it’s time the Tories got a grip of this council and stopped claiming services are very good when clearly they are not.”

Councillor Robert Evans, Executive Councillor for Care Services, said: “The report to the Executive was concerning the mechanism of the framework agreement - with 24 providers - and not about concerns or otherwise about individual providers.

“One of the strengths of this framework agreement is that it enables us to place work elsewhere if we have concerns about the performance of any provider. 

“This provides an added incentive for providers to improve their performance.

“Any CQC report about one of our service providers with a conclusion ‘Requires Improvement’ triggers a response by officers who talk to the Provider about details and negotiate improvements.

“More regular, rigorous monitoring is set up in parallel with further work by CQC.

“This procedure was followed in this case.”