LGO publishes report on lessons from rise in adult care complaints
The Local Government Ombudsman has issued a report identifying lessons from complaints about adult care and acknowledging the challenging nature of the process of safeguarding vulnerable adults.
The watchdog last month revealed in its annual report that it had seen complaints in this area rise 22% in 2011/12 to more than 1,000.
The Ombudsman highlighted four key areas in the latest report:
- Improving the quality of care: The LGO’s investigations revealed the most common issues of complaint about care, both for residential and domiciliary care (see below). The Ombudsman also stressed the need for an effective complaints process for speedy, local resolution and service improvement.
- Making informed choices: The Ombudsman said service users needed accurate advice and information to make well-informed choices about the care options available. “They need to be clear about what they should pay and what services they should get. It is vital for care contracts to be transparent for all the parties concerned.”
- Protecting the vulnerable: The LGO said complaints illustrated the challenging nature of the process of safeguarding vulnerable adults. “Councils have the lead role but all care providers have a duty to protect vulnerable people and alert others if an issue arises”.
- Resolving complaints locally: The LGO said prompt and open action to resolve complaints “benefits the service user and the care provider, helping to repair damaged relationships and improve services”. People should be made aware of their right to complain to the Ombudsman if a matter is unresolved after a care provider has considered it.
Dr Jane Martin, Ombudsman and Chair of the LGO, said: “The LGO has an important part to play in providing information from complaints to support informed choice of services and to bring about improvements. Our work with adult social care providers puts us in a good position to resolve disputes with providers and seek redress for citizens who pay for their own services.”
The Ombudsman’s jurisdiction was extended in October 2010 to include complaints about private providers of social care services as well as those provided by councils.
The LGO report found that common subjects of complaint about domiciliary care were:
- carers making short calls, being late, or failing to attend when scheduled
- too many changes in carers
- disputes about the proper role of carers
- staff attitudes and levels of skill – especially where the client has special needs
- inadequate records and handovers between staff, and
- inaccuracy in billing and delayed invoicing.
In relation to residential care, commonly raised issues were:
- attitudes of care staff
- skill in handling dementia care
- meeting health needs – calling medical help promptly, and
- responsiveness to call bells.
A copy of the LGO’s report can be found on the watchdog’s website.
Philip Hoult