Service improvements

North Yorkshire County Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2024

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 North Yorkshire County Council as a CSV file.

  • North Yorkshire County Council (22 017 529)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 28-Sep-2023

    Summary

    The Council repeatedly missed opportunities to assess Mrs Z’s mental capacity regarding her ability to manage her finances when this was in doubt. As a result, its decision to charge her for the full cost of her care fees for several years before she died, based on incomplete information regarding her finances, was fault. This fault caused significant uncertainty and distress to her relative, Mr X, who is the executor of her will. The Council’s communication and complaint handling with Mr X has also been poor. In recognition of the uncertainty caused by the Council’s inadequate assessments of Mrs Z’s finances, the Council has agreed to write off the £21,987.06 debt it says she owes. The Council will also apologise to Mr X, pays him £350 to recognise his own frustration and time and trouble and carry out several service improvements to prevent this fault occurring in future.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to provide evidence that it has improved its processes to follow up on the progress of mental capacity assessment requests when these are raised.The Council has agreed to remind its adult social care staff that light touch financial assessments to assess what someone should pay towards their care are only appropriate when there is clear evidence that they are above the capital limit threshold and not when the person's mental caapcity around their finances are under review.

  • North Yorkshire County Council (22 016 258)

    Category: Education Date: 29-Jun-2023

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to complete the recommendations it identified as being necessary in October 2022, after it upheld her complaint that it had not provided her son L, with an education for over 12 months. Mrs X said L remained without any educational provision or an up-to-date Education, Health and Care Plan. The Council failed to implement some of its own recommendations, failed to ensure L received the specialist provision from October 2022 to June 2023 and failed to review L’s Education Health and Care Plan in line with the statutory guidance. The Council agreed to pay Mrs X £5,150 to recognise the distress caused and lack of education, and it will issue L’s amended plan within one month.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant staff: that it is the Council’s duty to ensure the specified special educational provision in an Education, Health and Care Plan for a child or young person is being provided, and it should investigate where a concern is raised that the provision is not in place; andto review Education, Health and Care Plans in line with the statutory guidance and adhere to the timescales set out within it.

  • North Yorkshire County Council (22 013 524)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 27-Mar-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complains about the provision of care provided to her daughter Y, during various periods between 2019-2022. Mrs X’s also complains the Council did not complete a safeguarding. We have concluded our investigation having made a finding of fault. During the period, there were occasions when care was not provided by Care Provider A, resulting in Mrs X and the family having to provide care to Y. The Council has agreed to our recommendations.

    Service improvements

    Complete an internal review to establish clarity around processes where there is a Direct Payment in place. The purpose of the review should be to clearly set out the Council’s roles and responsibilities and establish a clear protocol where care has not been sourced through a Direct Payment arrangement. This is intended to benefit future service users, who may seek support from the Council whilst in receipt of a Direct Payment and add clarity to the process. The Council should provide the Ombudsman with a copy of any review it completes.Ensure Care Provider A has a clear protocol for the sharing of care plans, to ensure there is no delay, and that any actions required for it to share the care plan are actioned and begun without delay.

  • North Yorkshire County Council (22 011 460)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 09-Mar-2023

    Summary

    There was fault in the late Mr X’s care because the Care Home did not have care plans for Mr X. however, there was no fault in the Care Home’s actions when Mr X’s health declined. Staff acted promptly by liaising with the GP, arranging a GP visit and contacting paramedics. The Council which funded the placement will apologise, make a symbolic payment and check the Care Home has up to date care plans in place for council-funded residents.

    Service improvements

    The Council will carry out a contract monitoring visit to the Care Home to ensure all council-funded residents have up to date care plans.

  • North Yorkshire County Council (22 008 528)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 16-Jan-2023

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council has incorrectly charged for her father, Mr Y’s, care home fees. Mrs X says this has caused her distress and she has taken time and trouble to complain. There was fault in the way the Council evidenced the amount owed and communicated this with Mrs X. This fault caused distress and uncertainty to Mrs X. The Council has agreed to apologise, pay Mrs X £150 and remind its staff of the importance of providing clear information in its communication with service users.

    Service improvements

    •Issue guidance to staff, reminding them of the importance of providing clear information in communication with service users.

  • North Yorkshire County Council (22 004 578)

    Category: Education Date: 24-Nov-2022

    Summary

    The Council failed to ensure Ms X’s daughter, Z, received the education in her April 2021 Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan). It also failed to complete its August 2021 annual review of her EHC Plan, failed to make sufficient efforts to consult alternative education placements and failed to investigate Ms X’s complaints properly. These failings meant Z lost out on education she was entitled to receive for ten term-time months, her EHC Plan was out of date for one year and Ms X and Z lost their right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal. The Council has already paid Ms X £2,080 in recognition of the injustice caused. It has agreed to pay Z a further £920 to reflect the significant period of missed education and £200 to Ms X to reflect the avoidable time and trouble she was put to. It has also agreed to carry out several service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to carry out renewed training for its Special Educational Needs and Disabilities team on the statutory timescales for completing annual review processes and finalising Education, Health and Care Plans, including when this applies to 'early' annual reviews.The Council has agreed to set out in writing to all of its Special Educational Needs and Disabilities staff why it is important for children, young people and their parents to have up-to-date, finalised, Education, Health and Care Plans in each academic year.The Council has agreed to remind its complaint handling team for special educational needs complaints that if their investigation identifies that the Council has not met its statutory duties around annual reviews and Education, Health and Care Plans, then it should apologise for this and take prompt action to remedy the fault.

  • North Yorkshire County Council (22 003 308)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 02-Nov-2022

    Summary

    The complainant (Mrs X) said the Council failed to follow the right process when charging her for care services. The Council accepted its fault and offered to waive Mrs X’s outstanding care charges and remind its staff of the need to provide advance information on charging. There is nothing more we could achieve for Mrs X so we discontinue this investigation.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind its staff of the need to provide all service users with advanced and detailed information on how much they would be expected to pay towards their care before any charges are due. The Council will send us the evidence that this has happened.

  • North Yorkshire County Council (22 000 193)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 05-Oct-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X complains the Council delayed assessing her care needs. This meant she was denied the opportunity to return home and became eligible for charges. The Ombudsman finds fault with the Council for unreasonably delaying assessing Mrs X’s care needs. The Council has agreed to pay a financial remedy, refund of care payments, and implement service improvements.

    Service improvements

    TheCouncil has agreed to review how it manages escalationrequests for Complaints Reviews to Senior Managers in both Health and AdultServices and also Social Care Complaints.The Council has agreed to remind Care and Support workers of the need for timely assessments for long term care following a person’s discharge from hospital, particularly where there is an expressed desire and expectation that they will return home.The Council has agreed to ensure that Team Managers in Social Care are aware of the need to reallocate cases in a timely way when workers are absent from work.The Council has agreed to remind Care and Support workers of the need for regular and consistent communication with people and their families, so they do not need to chase for information / updates.

  • North Yorkshire County Council (21 017 755)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 14-Aug-2022

    Summary

    The Council has accepted it failed to inform Mr and Mrs X of a significant increase in the rate of Mrs X’s care prior to the new care starting. This caused Mr X distress as he fell into arrears. In recognition of this fault, the Council has agreed to reduce the amount owed to reflect the rate Mrs X would have paid, had the care been provided by her former, cheaper care provider. It also said it would train staff to ensure against the fault occurring in future. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X and provide us with evidence that the arrears have been reduced as promised and the relevant training carried out. Mrs X has now passed away, so this investigation has only considered injustice caused to Mr X.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to provide evidence that it has reminded its social care staff of the importance of informing people about their care costs prior to any care commencing.

  • North Yorkshire County Council (21 015 815)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 04-Jan-2023

    Summary

    Mrs X complained that the Council did not allow for Mr Y’s contribution to household costs in his financial assessment and did not tell her that he would have to contribute towards his care. She says this led to Mr Y having a large debt with the Council and caused significant stress to the whole family. We find the Council was at fault in changing its approach to this without explanation. We recommended the Council apologise, pay a sum to recognise the impact of this, and review how it will ensure Mr Y can contribute to household costs. It has agreed to do this.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to review its communication around charging in this case and ensure staff are clear in future about how it allows for non dependent’s household contributions.The Council has agreed to ensure the reasons for any charging decisions are clearly recorded.

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