Case Ref: 25 001 509 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Residential care

• The Council should ensure Priority Care Home updates resident’s care plans to include a written communication agreement with the resident’s family/Next of Kin. This is to ensure the Care Home communicates with Next of Kins and family members in line with the principles of the Mental Capacity Act.

Case Ref: 24 023 364 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Residential care

• The Council will issue a written reminder to a local Care Home to update care plans so they include detailed information on how to provide care to a non-consenting resident who lacks mental capacity to make decisions on their care.
• The Council will issue a written reminder to a local Care Home to involve the GP or NHS professional for advice on covert administration of medication where a resident who lacks mental capacity is refusing to take their medicine.

Case Ref: 24 018 678 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council will remind relevant staff of the importance of providing as much information as possible about charging for adult social care and the costs of the package of care at the time it is arranged, of clearly recording the advice given and to consider confirming it in writing, for example, by sending a costs leaflet.

Case Ref: 24 016 431 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Disabled facilities grants

• Remind staff to progress DFG applications and communicate with applicants in a timely manner.

Case Ref: 24 014 454 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• The Council has agreed to review its processes to ensure where it decides to end school transport, it offers a stage 1 review and then if this does not uphold the review, offers a stage 2 appeal panel hearing.
• The Council has agreed to provide training for school transport officers and school transport appeal panel members onhome to school transport and the statutory guidance, ensuring this coversapplications on SEN/disability/mobility grounds and the need to considerhealth, safety, sensory and behavioural difficulties in deciding whether it issafe to walk, even when accompanied.

Case Ref: 24 001 929 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council and NHS Integrated Care Board will implement a joint working procedure for education transport requiring specialist escorts. The procedure should include processes to: escalate and resolve professional disagreements; check all elements of transport are in place; and check the transport is facilitating attendance at the placement.
• The Council will review how it records its reasoning for decisions about safeguarding referrals and how it explains these to referrers.

Case Ref: 24 003 980 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will circulate this decision to remind staff dealing with Education, Health and Care Plans of the importance of timely annual reviews, keeping proper records, issuing draft Education, Health and Care Plans before final Education, Health and Care Plans and providing appropriate transitional support.

Case Ref: 24 000 904 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Residential care

• The Council will share with us a copy of the smoking policy and telemedicine procedure which the care home updated following the complaint investigation.

Case Ref: 23 021 226 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council agreed that further to this investigation it would issue a reminder to all staff trained to undertake continuing healthcare checklist assessments of the need to provide information about the checklist before undertaking the assessment; ensuring those assessed know they can have a representative present (such as a family member) during the assessment; and to provide information on the outcome of the assessment.

Case Ref: 23 019 207 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Direct payments

• Within three months of the final decision, the Council will send us confirmation it has changed its Direct Payments contracts to reflect the current legislation, or tells us when it will do so, and provide us with an updated copy.