Agenda item

The report provides information on the number, type and other information on adult social care complaints received during the period April 2016 - March 2017. It also highlights some examples of the many positive things people have said about the provision of adult social care in Medway over the same period and the service improvements the Council has made as a result of lessons learnt from complaints.

Discussion

The report was introduced by the Interim Assistant Director of Adult Social Care. The Manager for Social Care Complaints was also in attendance. Adult Social Care had faced significant changes and challenges over the previous 12 months. In relation to complaints, there had been improvements, although some areas remained a concern. The time taken to respond to complaints had increased in recent months. This was partially due to staff changes, with working having being undertaken to address this. Complaints were also becoming more complex with many covering multiple issues that were the responsibility of both the Council and other organisations.

Although the overall number of complaints was down, the number of complaints in relation to communication and finance had increased. The proportion of complaints related to finance that had not been upheld was quite high. Complaint performance was proactively monitored at quarterly meetings. People who had previously made a complaint were being contacted at a later date to ask for feedback on their experience, while job profiles for both managers and frontline staff were now explicit as to where responsibilities lay for acting upon complaints and compliments.

It was noted that financial assessments were once again being undertaken by staff within Adult Social Care. It was anticipated that this would improve the overall experience for service users and ensure that financial assessments were undertaken sooner.

In 2016/17, the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) had concluded five Adult Social Care complaints referred to them. The LGO found that Medway was not at fault in two of the cases. In once case Medway had been found to be at fault but there had been no injustice. In two cases the Council had been found at fault and there had been injustice.

A Member commented that the figure of 45% for complaints dealt with in 20 days seemed rather low and asked what was being done to address this. The Member also requested that the 2017/18 Annual Complaints and Compliments report provide more context in relation to complaint complexity and the impact on response times. Officers advised that work was being undertaken around responsibilities of individual officers. Complaints were becoming increasingly complex in nature and many required multiple organisations to work together in responding to the complaint, although staff changes at the Council had also had an impact on responses. A Business Manager had responsibility for proactively chasing responses to complaints and complainants were updated on progress in responding to their complaint. Complainants tended to value their complaint being investigated more thoroughly, even if this resulted in the response taking longer.

A Committee Member questioned the process in relation to the reporting of an alleged rape and whether this should have been directly reported to the Police. Officers advised that safeguarding procedures were in place and that an allegation of rape or sexual activity would have been reported to the Police immediately. The care home in question had not reported the allegation to the Council for two days. This should have been reported immediately to the Council as the safeguarding authority.

Another Committee Member considered that the number of complaints made was relatively small and felt that the Council needed to do more to ensure that the public had realistic expectations with regard to the limited financial assistance that was available for care. It was requested that an updated social care guide covering the key issues be produced for Councillors.

Other Committee Members agreed that communications, both internal and external, could be problematic. It was suggested that each department should have a complaints team with processes and training being standardised across these teams. It was also suggested that there should be more consistency in ‘out of office’ messages so that it was always made clear who to contact when a staff member was on leave.

Decision

The Committee noted and commented on the report presented and requested that the Interim Assistant Director of Adult Social Care liaise with the Head of Communications and Marketing with regard to ‘out of office’ messages.