-By Sammie Jones-

Ombudsman tells councils they ‘cannot contract out responsibility’ for care commissioned from third party providers after investigation

The council apologised and agreed to pay out £4,000 for their failings that left a woman with dementia “severely malnourished” when she lived in a care home.

Wokingham council conceded errors with their handling of the woman’s care after a Local Government Ombudsman investigation found she had lost a third of her body weight during her time at the home between 2010 and 2013.

The admission is a shame to the council, which should be professional enough to know better.

The watchdog said the case should serve as a warning to local authorities that they cannot “contract out the accountability” for care they have commissioned from third party providers.

The shameful failings of the council only came to light after the woman’s saughter complained about the care her mother received at the home. She complained about malnourishment, adding that her mum was under stimulated during her time at the home and had broken her hip during a fall after she was left to walk unaided. The fsct she was left to walk unaided shows the extreme level of negligence present in the council, which needs to be addressed.

The woman’s care plan spelt out her requirement of supervision with walking, medication, eating and drinking. The woman also needed encouragement to interact because of a level of depression she suffered from.

Wokingham council admitted failing to review the woman’s care properly during her time at the home due to an administrative error.

The local authority accepted the ombudsman’s report and was acting on its recommendations, which included a call to pay £3,500 to the woman and £500 to her daughter to remedy the situation.

 The Local Government Ombudsman, Dr.Jane Martin said: “Sadly, this is an example where a vulnerable woman and her family have suffered because their council has neglected its duty to them.

“In this case the woman was bored, lost a considerable amount of weight and her wellbeing was not promoted. Fortunately, since moving to a different care home she has regained weight and is now within a healthy range.”

How a local authority like Woking failed to notice the deteriration in the woman’s health and condition is alarming.

Councillor Julian McGhee-Sumner, Wokingham’s executive member for health and wellbeing, said the authority was “profoundly sorry” for the poor care provided to the woman and the distress caused to her and her family.

“The care she received was below the standard we expect from our care providers and we apologise that we did not identify these problems.

“The period of concern was 2010 to 2013 and we have fully accepted the Local Government Ombudsman’s report and have already put changes in place to meet its recommendations.

“We are confident that through the implementation of our duties under the Care Act 2014, full review and development of our safeguarding and quality assurance within commissioned services, and our review of our internal processes that we have fully addressed the concerns of the Ombudsman.”