Bromley Council

Bromley's Adult Social Care service has been rated Requires Improvement by CQC. The assessment recognised committed staff and transformation activity, but also highlighted concerns around timely access, assessments, reviews, support for unpaid carers, safeguarding oversight and transitions into adulthood.

Bromley's Adult Social Care Strategy sets a vision of supporting older people, disabled residents, people with long-term conditions and carers to live safely, independently and healthily with the right care at the right time.

Bromley also has specific Market Position Statements for domiciliary care and integrated mental health and wellbeing. These documents point to priorities around care at home, independence, proactive support, co-production, mental health, learning disability, autism and integrated care.

Alongside improvement activity, Bromley continues to face challenges including timely access to care and support, assessment and review delays, support for unpaid carers, safeguarding oversight, transitions from children's to adult services, specialist provision for complex needs, mental health and wellbeing support, dementia provision, Adult Social Care financial pressure, and market sustainability.

Across Bromley's CQC assessment, Adult Social Care Strategy and Market Position Statements, a recurring theme is the growing importance of timely provider readiness rather than simply provider availability. As the council works to improve access, reablement, safeguarding, transitions and specialist support, commissioners increasingly need providers who can turn capacity into safe, reliable and outcome-focused support without unnecessary delay.

• •Bromley's challenge is not simply finding available providers. It is ensuring the right support can start quickly, safely and with clear evidence of outcomes.
• •Bromley's challenge is not simply securing enough providers. It is building a provider market that can respond quickly and reliably while supporting Home First, safeguarding assurance, reablement, unpaid carers, specialist provision and transitions into adulthood.
• •Providers that can evidence mobilisation times, quality assurance, safeguarding governance and independence outcomes are likely to align most closely with these priorities.
• •Capacity alone does not solve access problems if support cannot start quickly, safely and reliably. In a market focused on timely support, providers need to evidence mobilisation, safeguarding, reablement outcomes and specialist capability before opportunities arise.
• •This suggests a shift from capacity alone towards assurance, evidence and confidence.

Bromley's current position suggests that future provider success will depend on more than having available capacity. Commissioners are likely to value providers who can evidence fast mobilisation, reliable package starts, reablement and discharge experience, safeguarding governance, strong communication, support for unpaid carers, mental health capability, dementia capability, transition planning, independence outcomes and continuous improvement.

Where a council is trying to improve timely access, safeguarding oversight, transitions and carer support, providers need to show how they can contribute to that improvement. This may include clear mobilisation times, safeguarding escalation processes, carer involvement, transition planning and outcome reporting. Providers that can present this information clearly are likely to be better positioned to support Bromley's improvement journey.

How prepared is your organisation for Bromley's future commissioning priorities?

• Can we evidence how quickly support can start after referral?
• Do we record mobilisation times and referral response times?
• Can we demonstrate experience supporting Home First, reablement or discharge pathways?
• Can we evidence outcomes around independence and reduced long-term need?
• Do we have clear safeguarding governance and escalation processes?
• Can we evidence support for unpaid carers where relevant?
• Do we have specialist capability in dementia, mental health, LD, autism or complex care?
• Are we able to support transitions into adult services where relevant?
• Do we provide commissioners with clear quality and outcome evidence?
• Could commissioners quickly understand our mobilisation capability and service strengths?

This Local Authority Intelligence publication has been produced by Odelia Group through independent analysis of publicly available evidence, including Adult Social Care strategies, Market Position Statements, commissioning information, CQC assessments, procurement publications and related sector intelligence.

Its purpose is to translate published evidence into practical market intelligence that supports providers, commissioners and sector partners in better understanding local adult social care markets.

This publication represents Odelia Group's independent analysis and should not be interpreted as representing the views of Bromley Council or as procurement advice.