A York resident on a waiting list for almost three and a half years is among those affected by delays in local adult social care services.
City of York Council figures showed the 1,267-day wait for a planned review came as another resident waited almost 21 months for an assessment under the Care Act.
They are among hundreds of people locally who remain on waiting lists for adult social care assessments including those linked to safeguarding investigations and granting legal orders for vulnerable people.
Cllr Lucy Steels-Walshaw, the council’s Labour health spokesperson, said they were now taking steps to directly address the backlogs so they could reduce risks and improve lives.
It comes as the council approved bringing in an external provider to help clear the backlogs, including working on occupational therapy.
Council data showed the number of people waiting for social care assessments whose cases were within the scope of the provider was 1,223 at the latest count.
They include someone waiting more than a year, 370 days, for an assessment of unpaid care they are providing.
The total also includes the 636-day wait for a legal assessment and the 1,267-day wait for a planned review where the council checks that someone’s care still meets their needs.
Council figures also showed there were 1,625 people with unallocated assessments or reviews as of April.
The total was down from a peak of 1,836 in November but was up from 1,590 recorded at the end of March.
It also comes after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) watchdog rated the council’s social care services as ‘requires improvement’ in December.
A council report on the decision to bring in an external provider stated inspectors deemed it to be failing in areas including social care assessments, prevention and safeguarding enquiries.
Officials said the management and oversight of the high waiting lists was taking up a lot of capacity and time in the service and adding stress to all roles.
They added backlogs were leading to concerns that urgent needs may be missed.
The report stated if backlogs could be cleared it would free up more time for staff to focus on improving the service.
It added missing people with urgent needs could result in their situation getting worse, creating a significant risk of harm.
The council decision session heard the aim was for 1,000 assessments to be done within six months.
A maximum of £400,000 has been earmarked to spend on the work, with the cash coming from an extra £10.3m set aside for adult social care in the council’s current budget.
Health Executive Member Cllr Steels-Walshaw said the move also aimed to reduce the council’s reliance on short-term agency staff which officials said were costly and produced inconsistent results.
The executive member said: “This appears to give the service the breathing space it needs to concentrate on its transformation.
“Reductions will delay the need for long-term care and this shows we’re responding to our CQC assessment.”
