Service improvements

London Borough of Lewisham

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025

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 - 7 of 7 cases with service improvements

Export results (CSV)

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

  • London Borough of Lewisham (24 012 524)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 20-Mar-2025

    Summary

    The Council failed to properly assess Mr Y’s care and support needs in accordance with legislation. It also failed to properly consider his mother’s needs as a carer in accordance with legislation. Consequently, both Mr Y and his mother have likely missed out on services to which they were both entitled and from which they would have derived benefit. We have made recommendations to address this.

    Service improvements

    The Council will consider any training needs of officers completing or overseeing needs assessments under the Care Act.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (24 010 072)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 26-Feb-2025

    Summary

    Miss B complained the Council did not respond when she asked it to change how she received care and support, so she could receive a direct payment to employ a personal assistant. We upheld her complaint, finding the Council failed to undertake a timely review of Miss B’s care and support plan despite having several opportunities to do so. We also found when Miss B complained, the Council wrongly said she was not co-operative with her care. These faults resulted in Miss B not receiving care better suited to meet her needs and caused unnecessary distress. The Council has accepted these findings. To remedy Miss B’s injustice, it has agreed to apologise, provide her with a symbolic payment and an updated care and support plan. It will also carry out a learning exercise to understand why it did not carry out the care and support review sooner.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to undertake a learning exercise, to understand why it had not reviewed the complainant's care and support plan for over 12 months despite scheduling one after eight weeks and receiving multiple contacts subsequently from the complainant saying the care they received was not meeting their needs and they wanted change. The Council agreed to consider if any systemic problems caused this failing. It agreed to write to us and let us know what the learning exercise found and to explain any changes it would be making to its processes or procedures as a result.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (24 009 746)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 17-Feb-2025

    Summary

    We completed our investigation. The Council was at fault for failing to provide X with personal care at home, following their discharge from hospital. X suffered avoidable distress for one month. The Council will apologise to X, make a symbolic payment to them and review its procedures.

    Service improvements

    Share learning from this decision with the teams involved in organising X’s care in August and September 2023.Review the procedure in place between the relevant NHS team/s and the Council regarding arranging discharge care for patients with social care needs who are leaving hospital.Ensure the review considers the out of hours procedure in place between the hospital social work team and the Council to ensure discharge care for patients discharged outside normal office hours is organised properly.Ensure the review considers the procedure to be followed when discharging a patient to an address outside of the Council’s area.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (24 006 239)

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

    Summary

    Ms X complains about how the Council handled her application for a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) for home adaptations. We have concluded our investigation having made a finding a fault. The Council acknowledged delays in completing the necessary adaptations and failing to communicate effectively with Ms X throughout the process. While the Council has taken some steps to remedy the situation, there was scope to increase its remedy offer. The Council has agreed to our recommendations.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its DFG process with a view to implementing proactive case monitoring. This will ensure that cases are managed effectively, and that works are completed on time, preventing delay.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (23 016 778)

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

    Summary

    Mr B complained the Council’s Care Act review of his care and support needs was flawed, and it wrongly ended his direct payment as a result. We found fault in the way the Council reached its decision as it failed to properly consider Mr B’s personal circumstances and evidence available to the Council before it reached its decision. The Council will apologise to Mr B and make payment to acknowledge the distress, uncertainty and loss of care support he experienced.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind its Adult Social Care staff and managers conducting Care Act assessments or reviews of the requirement to properly consider service users views, their personal circumstances and relevant information from health professionals, and base its decisions on well considered and reasoned grounds in line with the Care and Support statutory guidance.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (23 014 778)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 04-Sep-2024

    Summary

    We consider London Borough of Lewisham and Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust did not appropriately seek the views of Mrs Y’s supported accommodation before deciding she could not return there from hospital. Also, the Council did not carry out a Mental Capacity Act assessment and best interest decision in line with the relevant guidance. That caused Mrs Y’s son, Mr D, uncertainty. The Council and Trust should apologise and make a symbolic payment to Mr D to recognise his injustice. They should also carry out service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council should ensure relevant staff are aware of the importance of considering the Code when assessing someone's capacity and making best interest decisions. That includes involving relatives and lasting powers of attorney.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (23 013 092)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 02-May-2024

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council reduced care and support hours for her adult son, Mr Y, without any reassessment of his needs or a review of his care and support plan when he went into supported living accommodation. The Council was at fault which caused Ms X and Mr Y distress and uncertainty. The Council will apologise and pay Ms X and Mr Y a symbolic payment to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant staff that support should not be reduced unless this is based on a needs assessment and care and support plan.

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings