Summary

Complaint from a women on behalf of her brother and in her own right as his carer. She complains that her brother did not receive adequate care and support from South Essex Partnership University Trust and Bedford Borough Council.

The complaint

A report of a joint investigation by the Local Government Ombudsman and the Health Service Ombudsman into a complaint about Plymouth Council and the NHS Plymouth Primary Care trust (the trust).

Complaint from a women on behalf of her brother and in her own right as his carer. She complains that her brother did not receive adequate care and support from South Essex Partnership University Trust and Bedford Borough Council. The trust failed to carry out a proper capacity assessment of the man's ability to make decisions about managing food and looking after himself. It failed to ensure that support workers visited the man regularly or encouraged him to attend to his oral health and adopt a healthy lifestyle. The council failed to carry out a community care assessment of his needs. There was a delay in seeking appropriate supported living accommodation for him.

Finding and recommendations

The Ombudsmen upheld the complaint and recommends the council and the trust:

• should write jointly to the man and his sister acknowledging their failings and apologising for them;
• make a joint payment of £2,000 to the man in recognition of the impact their failure properly to assess his capacity had on him;
• make a joint payment of £500 to the women to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused to her; and
• develop an action plan to address the identified failings.

 

Ombudsman satisfied with the Council's response: 7 November 2014

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