London Borough of Hackney (19 017 688)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Assessment and care plan 10-Mar-2020

Summary: Mr X complains on behalf of his son, Mr Y, that the Council says it needs to review Mr Y’s care and support plan before producing a new personal budget. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because it is unlikely an investigation would find fault by the Council.

London Borough of Barnet (19 012 747)

Statement Not upheld Assessment and care plan 09-Mar-2020

Summary: I have discontinued my investigation into Mr X’s complaint about how the Council investigated and responded to his complaint about a Council occupational therapist. It is unlikely further investigation by us would add anything to the Council’s complaint response. Mr X also complained the Council failed to review its response to a complaint he made about his care assessment in 2018. That complaint is out of time.

Kent County Council (19 016 699)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Assessment and care plan 09-Mar-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the action by the Council to authorise the deprivation of liberty of the complainant’s mother. This is because it is unlikely he would find fault by the Council in the way it dealt with the authorisation process.

Essex County Council (19 006 488)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 06-Mar-2020

Summary: The Ombudsmen consider Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust) should have referred Mrs G to its Collaborative Care Team. This caused uncertainty to Mr G by not knowing if the referral would have improved Mrs G’s rehabilitation. The Ombudsmen also consider the Trust and Essex County Council’s lack of communication on discharge also caused Mr G confusion. He did not know who was going to meet Mrs G’s mobility needs.

London Borough of Waltham Forest (19 004 081)

Statement Not upheld Assessment and care plan 04-Mar-2020

Summary: Mr X complained about the way the Council decided where his mother should go on discharge from hospital and the way it dealt with his complaint. The Ombudsman finds no fault by the Council.

Bristol City Council (19 005 844)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 04-Mar-2020

Summary: There was fault by the Council. It did not review Mrs B’s care plan or advise her, or her family that she was not entitled to housing benefit (HB) to pay the rent of her flat while she was in residential care. The Council’s shortcomings mean Mrs B incurred a debt she may have otherwise avoided. The Council has made improvements to how it handles these situations. It agreed to refund the amount of overpaid HB to Mrs B’s estate.

Devon County Council (19 006 893)

Statement Not upheld Assessment and care plan 04-Mar-2020

Summary: There is no evidence of fault in the way the Council came to a decision to reduce Ms Y’s support hours. The Council properly assessed Ms Y before making the decision. As there is no evidence of fault in the process, I cannot comment on the merits of the decision reached.

City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (17 016 346)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 04-Mar-2020

Summary: Ms G has autism, severe anxiety disorder and associated mental health disorders. She complained that Bradford Metropolitan District Council failed to provide her with support for over five years despite agreeing a support plan with her and her consultant psychiatrist from 2014. Ms G claims this impacted on her wellbeing severely. The Ombudsman found the Council failed to provide Ms G with support for at least five years. This severely impacted on Ms G’s wellbeing. The Council agreed to the Ombudsman’s recommendations and will apologise to Ms G, pay her a financial remedy, provide her with support and improve its services for people with autism and communication difficulties.

London Borough of Bromley (18 012 769)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 03-Mar-2020

Summary: Mrs D complained about physiotherapy provided by an NHS Trust to her husband when he was a patient in hospital. She also complained about the communication relating to discharge planning from two NHS Trusts and the Council. She said the Council failed to investigate her concerns in line with its safeguarding procedures. The Ombudsmen found the two NHS Trusts failed to communicate properly with the complainant but apologised and made improvements. One of the NHS Trust failed to follow up on a community rehabilitation referral and this is likely to have impacted on Mrs D’s husband’s wellbeing. The Council completed a safeguarding investigation but took too long to tell the complaint the outcome. The Council and the NHS Trusts have agreed to the Ombudsmen’s recommendations and will apologise, make acknowledgement payments and issue reminders to their staff to ensure good practice.

Devon County Council (19 006 730)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 03-Mar-2020

Summary: Mrs X complains the Council failed to deal properly with the charges for her mother-in-law’s stay in a care home and delayed in reviewing her needs. The Council delayed in assessing the mother-in-law’s needs, resulting in her spending 17 weeks longer in the care home than necessary. It has offered to reduce the charge for the care home. It also needs to apologise, pay financial redress to Mrs X for the trouble it has put her to and take act to ensure timely assessments in future.