Adult social care complaints 2011

We commissioned research into the state of complaint handling in the adult social care sector following the extension of our role to include complaints from people who arrange or fund their own care. This is in addition to complaints about care arranged and funded by local authorities, which the LGO has dealt with for more than 35 years. Everyone has the same access to our independent service regardless of how the care is arranged or funded.

The aim of the research was to understand what works well and what needs to be improved, from a range of different perspectives. This included people who use adult social care services, their relatives or others acting on their behalf, care providers, independent advocacy and advice organisations, and local authorities.

It is the first time that research has been carried out on the state of complaint handling in the adult social care sector so it provides a unique perspective. We wanted to understand what people’s hopes were for an extended Ombudsman service in adult social care and where the LGO can help support improvements in the sector. We will use the findings to inform our future work, planning and priorities.

A summary version of the research is available as well as the full research report .

For more information on our role in dealing with complaints about adult social care go to the adult social care section.

Date Updated: 01/02/12