Service improvements

Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023

Find out more about service improvements

When we find fault, we can recommend improvements to systems and processes where they haven’t worked properly, so that others do not suffer from these same problems in future. Common examples are policy changes; procedural reviews; and staff training. Service improvements from decisions are published for 5 years and those from reports are published for 10 years.

Showing 1 - 10 of 10 cases with service improvements

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Downloads the current filtered list of service improvement decisions for Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council as a CSV file.

  • Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council (22 009 152)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 10-Nov-2022

    Summary

    The Council is at fault as it delayed in complying with our agreed actions following the investigation of Mrs X and Ms Y’s previous complaint about the care of Mr Z. The Council is also at fault as it issued an apology to Ms Y which referred to Mr Z by the wrong name. The Council has agreed to apologise to Ms Y for the distress caused and has issued the payment agreed as a remedy for the previous complaint.

    Service improvements

    Ensures it asks complainants for payment details in good time to enable it to meet the agreed timescales for making payments recommended by the Ombudsman.

  • Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council (22 005 023)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 20-Jan-2023

    Summary

    Miss B complained on her own behalf and that of her father, about delays in the Council completing adaptations to her father’s bathroom funded by a Disabled Facilities Grant. We upheld the complaint finding fault or service failure by the Council contributed to around eight months of delay to the works completing. This caused injustice to Miss B’s father as he lacked the modifications to improve his daily life. Miss B also suffered a separate injustice as distress due to this delay and some poor communications by the Council. The Council accepts these findings and at the end of this statement we set out the action it has agreed to remedy this injustice.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to discuss lessons from this complaint at a quarterly meeting where it reviews it adaptations service. This was to consider how it, and its partners, could further improve performance to ensure it met Government expectations on the timescales for DFG works to complete and to improve communications with landlords to prevent delays in obtaining landlord consent for works through lengthy exchanges of information.The Council will also complete the work of ensuring DFG applicants are kept informed of likely timescales at each stage of their journey through the process.

  • Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council (22 004 322)

    Category: Education Date: 29-Nov-2022

    Summary

    Mr X complained about the outcome of his school admissions appeal. He said the panel failed to properly consider his daughter, F’s medical issues. There was no fault in how the panel decided to refuse Mr X’s appeal. However, its decision letter to Mr X failed to explain the panel’s reasons which was fault. The Council agreed to apologise to Mr X for the uncertainty that caused and carry out a service improvement.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind all school admission appeal clerking staff of the need to record the panel's reasons at both stages of the deliberations and explain them to parents/carers in the decision letter.

  • Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council (22 003 960)

    Category: Education Date: 28-Nov-2022

    Summary

    Mr X complained his school admissions appeal panel hearing was flawed because it failed to take relevant information into account and it failed to apply the admissions criteria correctly. The Council failed to properly record the reasons for the panel’s decisions at both stage of the process which means it is not possible to determine whether there were flaws in the decision-making process. The Council agreed to offer Mr X a fresh appeal with a new panel and clerk to remedy the uncertainty this has caused Mr X.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to remind all school admissions appeal clerking staff of the need to record the reasons for the panel's decisions at both stages of the appeal deliberations and explain the reasons for the decisions to parents and carers in the decision letter.

  • Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council (21 012 428)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 31-Oct-2022

    Summary

    We found fault by the Practice and a care home acting on behalf of the Council with regards to how they managed Mrs H’s medication. We also found the care home failed to maintain appropriate hygiene standards at times. Although this fault did not have a significant impact on Mrs H’s care, it caused her son, Mr G, considerable confusion and distress. The Council and Practice will apologise to Mr G and take action to ensure similar problems do not occur in future.

    Service improvements

    Within two months of my final decision, the Council will write to the Ombudsmen to explain what action it will take to ensure the care home has:- a robust process in place for managing the medication of residents to ensure all medications are properly recorded and administered. This should include a process of audit and monitoring to promptly identify any omissions; and- a clear policy and protocol for maintaining hygiene standards in the care home to prevent the spread of infection. This should incude guidance for staff on laundering dirty clothes and ensuring residents are supported to maintain personal hygiene.

  • Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council (21 010 602)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 29-May-2022

    Summary

    The Council is at fault at it failed to make reasonable adjustments to help Mr Z to complete his housing application and the care workers were late to Mr Z’s scheduled care calls which will have caused distress to him. The injustice to Mr Z cannot be remedied. The care provider is also at fault as it did not follow its procedure when Mr Z could not be contacted. This caused distress and uncertainty to Ms Y which the Council has agreed to remedy by apologising and making a payment of £250 to her.

    Service improvements

    Reviews its procedures to ensure the Council makes reasonable adjustments for housing applicants with disabilities and complies with its duty under the Equality Act 2010.Ensures the care provider reviews its procedures to retrieve care records from a service user’s property in the event they have passed awayBy training or other means, ensures the care provider’s staff are aware of its procedure in the event a service user cannot be contacted.

  • Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council (21 010 557)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 20-Jun-2022

    Summary

    The complainants, previous foster carers, complained about the way the Council dealt with an allegation from a foster child. The Council has already upheld some aspects of the complaint. We have considered whether the injustice caused by the faults has been properly identified and remedied. We have recommended additional remedial actions which the Council has agreed to take. We are therefore closing the complaint.

    Service improvements

    the Council will: advise social workers to mark the date the placement plan is given to foster carersthe Council will: introduce a target deadline of twelve weeks for when decisions about a foster carer's registration will be made.

  • Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council (21 006 247)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 28-Jul-2022

    Summary

    Mr X complains that the Council did not tell Mr P that his direct payment account was in arrears, and arrears were building up over years. Mr X says this caused Mr P unnecessary distress. We find the Council at fault, and this fault caused Mr P and Mr X injustice. The Council has agreed to apologise, make payments to Mr P and Mr X, and improve its service so this does not happen to anyone else in future.

    Service improvements

    the Council will review its policy on direct payments to make sure the person is notified directly, in writing, of arrears on their direct payment account so that action can be taken.the Council will review its policy on auditing direct payment accounts to make sure accounts are properly audited at least annually (including telling the person in writing if they are in arrears), and to make sure the Council takes action itself about arrears rather than allowing them to build up.the Council will share this decision with appropriate managers and within appropriate team meetings so that the learning here is shared amongst staff.

  • Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council (21 004 995)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 02-Mar-2023

    Summary

    Miss X complained about how the Council dealt with her reports of anti-social behaviour near her home. There was fault in how the Council failed to properly consider some of its powers and failed to tell Miss X about the anti-social behaviour case review process. The Council agreed to apologise and process a case review application on Miss X’s behalf.

    Service improvements

    The Council agree to remind relevant staff in its planning, environmental health, community safety and complaints teams about the anti-social behaviour case review process and that they should direct complainants to the process where it might apply.

  • Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council (21 000 188)

    Category: Planning Date: 06-Apr-2022

    Summary

    Mr B complains that there was fault in the way the Council granted planning permission for his neighbour to extend the neighbouring property. The Council did not keep adequate records of the representations received from Mr B, and there was delay in responded to his complaint. However, the Ombudsman has not found that this affected the Council’s consideration of the application, so we cannot question the merits of the Council’s decision to grant planning permission.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind officers of the legal requirement to keep consultation responses on the planning file and that the Ombudsman considers it fault not to keep written records of site meetings.

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