London Borough of Croydon (20 003 686)

Category : Adult care services > Assessment and care plan

Decision : Upheld

Decision date : 04 Nov 2021

Summary: Ms C complained the Council failed to provide her, and her son, Mr D appropriate services and act in accordance with both the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Equality Act 2010.

Finding

The Ombudsman upheld the complaint and found fault causing injustice.

Recommendations

To remedy the fault, the Council has agreed to:

  • apologise to Mr D and Ms C for the failures we have identified in this report;
  • pay Mr D £1,000 for the anxiety and frustration the Council’s actions have caused him;
  • pay Ms C £1,000 for the stress, anxiety and break down in family life that the Council’s actions caused her;
  • arrange a re-assessment of Mr D by someone who is trained and experienced in assessing and supporting people with autism and mental health problems;
  • review how services are provided to people with autism. In particular:
    • that staff have adequate training in autism so that they have the appropriate skills and knowledge to support people with autism;
    • agree a process of liaison with specialist community teams and mental health services, or specialist autism professionals, when and if necessary;
  • review the overall Council strategy to providing services to people with autism. In particular, whether there is due regard for services such as care and housing available to those who have needs related to autism;
  • remind staff about:
    • the importance of person-centered practice and keeping people using services central to the process;
    • assessing to prevent a potential deterioration in needs especially in situations such as these where it is known there is going to be a substantial change in a person’s circumstances;
    • the duty to complete carers’ assessments;
    • the Equality Act 2010 and the duty to make reasonable adjustments where applicable.

Ombudsman satisfied with Council's response: 24 February 2022

Print this page

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings