Agenda item

Adrian Crook, Director of Adult Social Services and Community Commissioning to present the Adult Care Annual Complaints Report 2019-2020 to the Committee. Report and presentation attached.

Adrian Crook presented the Adult Care Annual Complaints Report which  provided members of the Health Scrutiny Committee with details of information relating to Adult Social Care Services.

The report relates to the period 1st April 2019 – 31st March 2020, and provides comparisons between previous years, as well as detailing the nature, scope and scale of some of the complaints received.

It was explained that the council is required to operate a separate Statutory Complaints and Representations procedure, in accordance with the Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009 which was laid before Parliament on the 27th February 2009 and came into effect on 1st April 2009. 

The complaints mentioned in this report typically relate to issues where customers, their families or carers feel that the service they have received have not met their expectations.  In these cases, the Council will always have endeavoured to resolve any concerns or dissatisfaction before a formal complaint has been received.  Complaints, therefore, usually arise when the customer does not agree with the Council’s interpretation of events or, in some cases, where policy delivers an outcome which they do not agree with.

Within the regulations which govern the complaints process, the Council adopts a flexible approach which prioritises local resolution.  However, where complainants remain dissatisfied, they have the option to take their case to the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman.

The Complaint Procedure is not intended for dealing with allegation of serious misconduct by staff.  These are covered by and dealt with through the Council’s separate disciplinary procedures.

Adrian had sent a summary in a presentation form to all Committee Members. It was explained that timescales had been moved by Government and therefore the report related to 2019/2020 before the pandemic.

Adrian asked that thanks to Louise Carroll be recorded for her hard work and dedication in supporting the complaints procedure.

The total number of complaints received in 2019/2020 has slightly reduced from the previous two years - 67 in 2017/18 and 74 in 2018/2019.  Therefore, although the way services are being delivered has changed significantly and service pressures have increased for the department, the figure for 2019/2020 indicates that customers have complained less about the services they have received.

Common themes were highlighted including struggles with communication and the quality of care/services.

212 compliments had been received mostly relating to Choices for Living Well, Intermediate Care Reablement/Killelea

Those present were given the opportunity to ask questions and make comments and the following points were raised: -

• Councillor Brown referred to paragraph 8.1 of the report and the increase in the figures relating to Choices for Living Well, Intermediate Care Reablement/Killelea.

It was explained that this figure referred to the number of compliments received. Complaints relating to this service had been recorded as 7 this year and 6 the previous year. The service works wit on average over 300 customers per month.

• Councillor Lewis asked whether access to services remained the same throughout the pandemic?

Adrian Crook explained that the period of the report ended in March 2020 which was before the pandemic. The complaints report relating to the time period following the start of the pandemic was currently being worked on. Adrian reported that there was a spike at the start of the pandemic relating to the quality of care, particularly anxiousness caused by the need for PPE and whether care staff had the correct equipment.

• Councillor Hayes referred to the fact that one complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman had been upheld and asked what this was in relation to.

Adrian Crook explained that there had been confusion in regard to explaining the charges to somebody and then they hadn’t done very good job of apologising afterwards.

• Councillor Pilkington referred to the fact that following changes in service provision no complaints had been received, Councillor Pilkington asked how this cross referenced with how many changes there had been at the same period of time.

Adrian explained that this report related to Adult Social Care and things such as care packages where there could be the possibility of a change of provider at short notice or a required move to a different provider. For the time scale that this report related to there had been no provider failures, so no complaints had been received.

• Councillor Birchmore stated that the number of complaints received had reduced but the number of those complaints upheld had increased and asked whether there was a reason for this.

Adrian explained that the culture in complaints processing had changed following feedback and the service was more minded now to apologise.

• Councillor Birchmore explained that she was currently going through the complaints procedure with Salford Council and it had been a long and drawn out process which was now going through the Local Government Ombudsman and communication throughout had been terrible. Councillor Birchmore asked what Bury had in place to ensure that complainants were kept updated on progress and that information was provided in a timely fashion.

Adrian explained that there was a dedicated Complaints Officer, who as soon as a complaint was received would allocate a manager to investigate.  All responses would then be tracked to ensure a timely response. Adrian reported that he held weekly meetings with the Complaints Officer where he reviews the responses.

• Councillor Hussain asked whether the change in culture and apologising more would open up the service to litigation.

Adrian reported that there had be no change in relation to litigation.

• Councillor Holt referred to compliments received in relation to the Rapid Response Team and the number of compliments decreasing by almost a third. He also referred to the Older People Staying Well Team and the compliments decreasing by more than half compared to the previous year. Councillor Holt asked if there was any information as to why?

Adrian explained that the Rapid Response Team was a very busy service so maybe didn’t remember to ask for feedback. The Team’s workload had increased from 50 customers to 250 customers per month.

Adrian explained that the Staying Well service was excellent and he never received negative comments in relation to the service.

It was agreed:

1. That the contents of the report be noted.

2. That Adrian be thanked for the report

3. That the hard work of Louise Carrol be recognised.