Service improvements

Cornwall Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2027

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 16 cases with service improvements

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

  • Cornwall Council (24 004 347)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 15-Sep-2025

    Summary

    Mr X complained about how the Council conducted a safeguarding investigation when he was the subject of allegations that he financially abused his mother. We upheld the complaint, finding the Council conducted an inadequate and biased investigation. This caused Mr X and his mother unnecessary distress, when the Council sought to impose limits on his contact with her. The Council accepted these findings. At the end of this statement, we set out a series of actions it agreed to take to remedy Mr X’s injustice. This included providing him with an apology, a symbolic payment, a review and correction of its records. It also agreed to make service improvements to try and prevent a repeat.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed that it would revise its current policy for safeguarding adults to include reference to the desired timescale for completing enquiries when it has decided to make enquiries. Also, that the policy would in future contain advice for its social workers and officers on informing both those who report concerns, or who are the subject of enquiries as alleged perpetrators of abuse, when it has completed its investigation. This was after this investigation found unacceptable delay in the Council beginning enquiries and that it failed to tell the complainant when it closed its investigation, meaning he believed its enquiries into allegations made about him remained ongoing.The Council also agreed that it would brief all those who conduct adult safeguarding investigations on key learning points from this investigation. That investigating social workers must consider the factual basis for any allegations made against individuals; that they should take seriously any counter-allegations and decide whether to investigate those also; that they should keep clear audit trails of communications relevant to decisions arising from the safeguarding investigation and if they record abuse substantiated, they must provide a clear rationale for such a finding. This was after this investigation found poor practice and a bias against the complainant when allegations were made about him, which it recorded as substantiated despite a lack of evidence for this finding.

  • Cornwall Council (24 001 518)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 29-Sep-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X said the Council’s handling of Mr X’s added care costs after he left hospital was unnecessarily time consuming, caused distress and significantly affected her finances. We found there was avoidable delay by the Council and a failure to properly process Mrs X’s complaint about the costs. To put matters right, the Council agreed to apologise to Mrs X and make a symbolic payment of £1,000. The Council also agreed to remind its officers of the need to deal with complaint correspondence in a timely manner.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to send a written reminder to its Adult Social Care officers about the need to handle residents’ complaints in a timely manner by either responding directly or referring them its Feedback Team.

  • Cornwall Council (23 020 576)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 12-Dec-2024

    Summary

    Mr C complains the Council delayed in sending a bill for his late brother’s residential care, and for failing to pay back his costs. The Council is at fault for a 12 month delay in completing a financial assessment but there is no fault in how it considered Mr C’s expenses. To remedy the shock, time and trouble Mr C had in receiving a large bill the Council has agreed to apologise and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will:-a) review and if necessary update processes on the procedure of advising people about charges where the person they are supporting lacks capacity and they have no legal authority to deal with their finances on their behalf;b) remind staff by a staff circular or team meeting about the importance of recording any advice give about charges;c) remind staff by a staff circular or team meeting about the importance of providing information about residential care charges to people using the service or those acting on their behalf.

  • Cornwall Council (23 019 534)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 24-Sep-2024

    Summary

    Miss Z complained on behalf of her father that the Council wrongly charged him for 45 minute care calls after agreeing to reduce them to 30 minutes. The Council accepts it did not act in a timely manner and has proposed a suitable remedy. This includes refunding the cost of the extra 15 minutes and making a symbolic payment to Miss Z to recognise her inconvenience.

    Service improvements

    Share lessons learnt with the Practice Assurance Group which will review and amend working practices where necessary and provide briefings to staff of any changes.

  • Cornwall Council (23 018 367)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 16-Dec-2024

    Summary

    Mr X complained about the Council’s failure to meet his care and support needs since 2020 and mismanagement of his direct payments since they were first made in 2016. This led to a large debt that Mr X cannot afford to repay and caused a significant decline in his mental health. We found the Council to be at fault. It failed to monitor the direct payment and address the surplus in his account. To remedy the injustice to Mr X, the Council has agreed to apologise, reduce the debt, and take action to improve its service.

    Service improvements

    The Council should carry out a review of how it supports, monitors and audits recipients of direct payments. This is to ensure all current and future recipients of direct payments are adequately monitored and audited in line with statutory guidance and to ensure similar matters such as this do not occur in the future. The resulting report should be considered by the appropriate Council committee.

  • Cornwall Council (23 013 763)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 29-Nov-2024

    Summary

    Ms D says the Council’s care provider provided poor home care support for her mother. As a result, she says her mother was admitted to hospital several times. There was fault by the Council, causing Ms D distress and uncertainty. The Council has agreed a remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind officers they should consider complaints regarding commissioned local adult care providers in accordance with the Council’s policy.The Council has agreed to remind officers they should make referrals to the safeguarding team for consideration when a person reports neglect by a local adult care provider.

  • Cornwall Council (23 012 033)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 23-Jul-2024

    Summary

    Mr D complains the Council failed to provide him with social care and housing support. The Council failed to properly assess Mr D’s needs and offer support to help him meet his housing need. To remedy the complaint the Council has agreed to make Mr D a symbolic payment, make procedural improvements and provide staff training.

    Service improvements

    The Council should:-a) remind staff either by a staff circular or team meetings about the importance of reviewing care packages within the statutory periods, or more regularly if needed;b) remind staff either by a staff circular or team meetings about the duty to offer suitable alternative accommodation when it has identified both relief and main housing duties.

  • Cornwall Council (22 007 577)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 11-Jan-2023

    Summary

    The complainant, Mrs X, complained about the quality of home care, the Council’s commissioned care provider, Penhellis Community Care Ltd (Roche), provided to her late husband, Mr X. We find the Council was at fault. This caused distress to Mrs and Mr X. To address the injustice caused by fault, the Council has agreed to apologise, make symbolic payments and remind staff of relevant guidance.

    Service improvements

    The Council should issue written reminders to the care provider to ensure they are aware of: Regulation 17 which says care providers should “maintain securely” records and should have “an accurate, complete and contemporaneous record in respect of each service user, including a record of the care and treatment provided to the service user and of decisions taken in relation to the care and treatment provided”. Regulation 9 “Person Centred Care” says care providers should enable and support relevant people to make or participate in making decisions relating to the service user's care or treatment to the maximum extent possible…”. Regulation 10 says care providers must treat all service users with dignity and respect.

  • Cornwall Council (22 006 811)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 10-Mar-2023

    Summary

    There was delay in arranging Mrs X’s care and support and interpreting service which caused a loss of service and affected not only Mrs X, but also Mr X, her informal carer, by causing distress and a loss of opportunity to have a break. There was also fault in complaint handling and a failure to make reasonable adjustments. There was some fault in the consideration of Mrs X’s disability related expenses, but this did not cause a financial loss. The Council will apologise, make payments to Mr X and take action set out in this statement.

    Service improvements

    The Council needs to ensure there are sufficient staff in the complaints team to respond to customers who require telephone contact as a reasonable adjustment.

  • Cornwall Council (21 012 231)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 07-Aug-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X complains the Council has failed to meet her daughter’s assessed need to attend day services since they were allowed to reopen in 2020, which has caused her avoidable distress. The Council delayed in reviewing her daughter’s needs, then failed to review them properly and provided misleading and inaccurate information to her and her MP. This caused unnecessary distress to Mrs X and left her daughter without the support she had been assessed as needing. The Council needs to review the daughter’s needs, apologise, and pay financial redress.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to take action to ensure:a)it reviews people’s needs at least every 12 months; b)provides people with copies of reviews, assessments and care and support plans; andc)officers provide accurate information when responding to complaints.

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