Service improvements

London Borough of Croydon

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 - 8 of 8 cases with service improvements

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Downloads the current filtered list of service improvement decisions for London Borough of Croydon as a CSV file.

  • London Borough of Croydon (22 005 978)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 22-Dec-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to ensure a care package was in place for her husband, Mr X’s hospital discharge. She also complained about the Council’s delay in responding to her requests for direct payments and respite care and failing to correctly reassess Mr X’s finances. We find fault by the Council. This caused significant stress and uncertainty to Mr and Mrs X. To address the injustice caused by fault, the Council has agreed to apologise, make a symbolic payment and remind staff of the relevant guidance.

    Service improvements

    Issue written reminders to relevant staff to ensure they are aware of: Point 12.22 of the care and support statutory guidance which says in all cases, the consideration of the request for direct payments should be concluded in as timely a manner as possible.

  • London Borough of Croydon (22 002 217)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 21-Feb-2023

    Summary

    The Council was at fault when it proposed to significantly reduce Ms X’s care package by transferring most of the responsibility for providing her care to children’s services. The Council’s recommendation to reduce Ms X’s care hours was not made in line with the Care Act Regulations and failed to have due regard to her human rights. This led to a period of avoidable distress and uncertainty for Ms X, during which time she feared she would not be able to care for her child. The Council has agreed to pay Ms X £500 to reflect the serious avoidable distress she was caused. It has also agreed to carry out our recommended service improvements to prevent repetition of faults affecting others.

    Service improvements

    The Council was at fault when it proposed to significantly reduce a care package by transferring most of the responsibility for providing the care to Children's Services. The Council has agreed to investigate what prompted the council officers carrying out the care needs assessments to believe that adult social care did not have the responsibility to fund eligible needs around caring for a child. The Council will hold a lessons learned meeting within adult social care about the case to ensure against people with eligible care needs being wrongly advised in future.The Council has agreed to remind all adult social care staff of the Council’s duties in relation to eligible outcomes under the Care Act Regulations 2015, in particular the outcome of caring for a child.The Council has agreed to remind all adult social care staff of the Council’s duty to have regard to Article 8 of the Human Rights Act which protects people’s right to respect for family and private life, sets out the limited circumstances in which a public authority can interfere with this, and the relevance of this when assessing the caren eeded for disabled adults to care for their children.

  • London Borough of Croydon (22 001 091)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 12-Dec-2022

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council failed to properly assess and meet his care needs since 2017. Mr X also said the Council failed to make reasonable adjustments for his disabilities, did not communicate with him and his representatives properly and failed to consider his complaint about the matters. The Council failed to review Mr X’s care and support in line with the legislation, to meet some of his eligible care needs and to properly consider his complaint about that matter. The Council agreed to apologise to Mr X for the frustration and distress caused and pay him £1200.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant adult social care staff of the importance of keeping clear and accurate records of statutory documents such as assessments and care plans.The Council will remind relevant adult social care staff to ensure care and support plans are reviewed in line with the timelines set out in legislation and when an appropriate request is made.The Council will remind staff members who handle complaints of the differences between the adult social care and corporate complaint policies and their responsibility within each.

  • London Borough of Croydon (22 000 071)

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

    Summary

    Miss X complained about the outcome of a reassessment of her care and support needs. On the evidence seen so far, we have found the Council to be at fault because it did not properly consider her need for care at night, did not involve her properly in the assessment and fettered its discretion. She suffered avoidable distress, uncertainty and possible risk of harm. To remedy this injustice, the Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to her, carry out a reassessment and take action to improve its practices.

    Service improvements

    The Counci will remind staff of the importance of continuing to ensure the adult's care needs are being met when their care plan is under review, particularly if they are without adequate care during a period of dispute.The Council will remind staff of the needs to involve service users when it proposes to make significant adjustments to their care support.The Council will remind staff of its duty to clearly set out how a person's eligible care needs will be met, particularly where it proposes to reduce someone's care hours.The Council will take action to ensure staff do not fetter their discretion when making support planning decisions.

  • London Borough of Croydon (21 016 602)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 11-Sep-2022

    Summary

    The Council failed to ensure the appropriate funding was approved for Mrs X when she was discharged from hospital. It ordered the recommended equipment for her but could not explain why some of it was not delivered. The Council’s response to Ms B’s complaint was inadequate. The Council agrees to apologise to Mrs X, reimburse the amount of funding it failed to secure for her, and pay a sum which recognises the distress caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its complaints handling and provide training if necessary.The Council will review its equipment ordering audit.

  • London Borough of Croydon (21 016 241)

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

    Summary

    The Council was at fault for delaying in putting in place a package of care and for failing to consider whether Mr X had the appropriate support through the care assessment. This meant Mr X had to wait longer than necessary to receive a package of care and cannot be sure the Council adequately considered his needs. The Council agreed to apologise to Mr X, make a payment to Mr X and review his care plan.

    Service improvements

    Review Mr X’s care plan to ensure he is receiving the correct amount of care.

  • London Borough of Croydon (21 015 440)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 08-Aug-2022

    Summary

    Mr D complained the Council wrongly kept his visitation restrictions in place for a care home where his friend lives. He said this caused him distress. We found the Council at fault as its policy did not set clear standards for when Mr D’s restrictions would be reviewed and how he would be informed. However, as it found his behaviour continued to breach its policy, the outcome would have been the same. Mr D did therefore not experience an injustice as a result of the Council’s fault. The Council should review its policy to prevent any potential future injustice to other visitors with restricted access.

    Service improvements

    The Council will ensure the Care Home reviews its Visitor Policy to include how it will review any procedures in place, which restricts visitors contact with service users in the Care Home. This includes how often reviews will take place and how it notified the persons affected of its decisions.The Council will ensure the Care Home reminds its staff of the requirement to review procedures for restricting visitor’s contact with service users of the Care Home as set out in its Visitor’s Policy.

  • London Borough of Croydon (21 009 192)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 09-Oct-2022

    Summary

    Miss X complains about several care providers’ failure to provide care for her late mother, Mrs X. She says she will not pay the care contributions the Council is seeking as it has not provided evidence of care. We found fault by the Council and recommended a remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind care providers that it contracts, that they should ensure they note the times attended and the care provided. The Council could consider advising care providers to use electronic call logging to evidence the times attended.

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