Members of Wiltshire Council’s Conservative group have been accused of misleading the public by inaccurately reporting the council’s Adult Social Care inspection rating from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Wiltshire Council was rated ‘Good’ in a recent CQC inspection, but a social media post shared by over 40 Conservative councillors, including council leader Cllr Richard Clewer, Cllr Phil Alford (Melksham Without North & Shurnhold) and Cllr Nick Holder (Bowerhill) claimed, “The Adult Social Care CQC (Care Quality Commission) inspection rating of Good is the top score currently available.”
However, both the CQC and Wiltshire Council have confirmed that the highest possible rating is ‘Outstanding’.
A Melksham resident criticised the statement, saying, “This is another example of the Conservative Party not checking their facts before sharing information. To say that a ‘Good’ score is the top score available is misleading.”
More than 20 hours later, the councillors altered their posts to read, “The Adult Social Care CQC (Care Quality Commission) inspection rating of Good is the top score currently achieved by any local authority to date.”
However, other councils that have also received a ‘Good’ rating have scored higher than Wiltshire Council.
Cllr Richard Clewer did not respond to questions raised by the Melksham News.
