By Sammie Jones-
The local government and social care ombudsman have revealed statistics showing high percentages of complaints held.
According to statistics, the Ombudsman upheld 63% of adult social care complaints in 2016-17, which is 10% higher than the average across all sectors, the watchdog’s annual review has revealed.
The proportion of investigations upheld during 2016-17 rose 5% year on year, while the number of investigations completed – 1,214 – was up 9%. Upheld investigations refer to those investigations where the complaint was considered to be valid and where steps were taken to address them.
Complaints relating to adult safeguarding rose the most, by 27% from 2015-16. The number of complaints relating to independent care providers was also u by 16% to 447, continuing a steady rise from just 58 back in 2010-11.
Michael King, the local government and social care ombudsman, said the safeguarding figures were “worrying”. However, he stated that the rise in independent care complaints was evidence of a “learning culture” among providers. He said they were getting better at responding to complaints and encouraging people to refer them.
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As well as putting things right for an individual, the Ombudsman makes recommendations to improve services for others, by changing policies and procedures, training staff, or recommending a service be provided. The report states that within the Ombudsman’s 1,318 recommendations, councils and care providers made nearly 180 procedural changes, and committed to train staff on nearly 50 occasions
In some cases, a single investigation led to the Ombudsman assessing the injustices of people who didn’t complain . Examples of this over the past year include one person’s complaint about the way a council charged for care.
Following the Ombudsman’s investigation , over 60 people, who had been similarly affected received refunds. This reflects the growing importance the sector places on making the complaints process more visible and informing people of their rights to come to the Ombudsman.
SAFEGUARDING CONCERNS
Altogether, the ombudsman received 3,061 complaints and enquiries relating to adult social care, a figure up slightly from 2,969 in 2015-16.
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Majority of the complaints from the Assessment and Care planning, went up by 715 (up from 600), followed by residential care (609, up from 599) and home care (362, down from 372).
In the area of safeguarding, complaints rose from 223 to 283, offsetting a previous decline between 2015 and 2016. Of these, 64% were upheld, revealing a 6% rise on the previous year. King expressed concern about this, stating that that safeguarding complaints were unlikely to be affected by financial pressures faced by councils. He described the statistics as ”worrying”.
“It’s a relatively low-volume [area] but very high seriousness; that statistic is worrying and we will be doing more detailed work around the types of complaints and lessons that can be learned,”
‘Growing maturity’
Complaints about independent care providers rose from 386 to 477 the previous year, something King described as a “growing maturity” in the sector. However, such complaints also reveal an alarming level of incompetence in the professionalism of social services. The only maturity that occurs happens when positive implementations are made, like when action is taken to address the complaints made.
“People are more willing to look at complaints as a learning tool; we’ve been working in partnership with providers to build confidence around complaint handling and encourage people to refer unresolved complaints to us,” he said.
Martin Green, the chief executive of sector body Care England, said it was “right and proper” that providers should work with the ombudsman.
“In a sector being squeezed in all directions, it is heartening to see providers being praised for making the ombudsman’s role better known, and taking a lead in learning from complaints,” he said.
POSITIVE
The ombudsman’s review adopts a positive stance on complaints; viewing them as resulting in service improvements that benefit people beyond the primary complainant. The positive element of the complaints are seen in the results of the stream of complaints. Around one in three complaints remedied in 2016-17 included measures to address “systemic problems”, the review noted. Examples include instigating procedural changes, or training staff.
King says the ombudsman would be increasingly looking to use powers they have had in place since 2008 which enable the service to broaden its investigations in order to tackle problems affecting more than one person.
“There is a growing understanding between councils, care providers and us that the power of complaints isn’t just sorting out the day-to-day stuff but what you learn and how you use that as tool for improvement,” he said
Margaret Willcox, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), welcomed the ombudsman’s review, stating that there had been a “positive response” from local government at a time of financial pressure. She said
“While recognising there has been an increase in complaints over the year, the report does not directly correlate this to a dip in quality,” she said.
“The report notes that councils and providers have acted positively to implement recommendations,, acknowledging fault and areas for improvement and encouraging feedback as a way of learning and improving services.”
She is right in that the actions taking as a result of the complaints are raising the standards of quality in a way that improves services.
Adding to that was the voice of Izzi Seccombe, chair of the Local Government Association’s community . She encouraged councils to continue to “work hard to ensure people have their voices heard” and to learn from mistakes. However, she warned that the adult social care sector’s ongoing funding crisis would make things more difficult. She said
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“We are concerned that despite care workers’ best efforts, complaints could become more frequent as the combined pressures of insufficient funding, growing demand and extra costs mean councils will have less money for essential social care services,”