Service improvements

Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2023 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 - 7 of 7 cases with service improvements

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

  • Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (23 007 334)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 21-Mar-2024

    Summary

    Mr X complained about the quality of care, the Council’s commissioned care provider, Bartholemew lodge nursing home Ltd, provided to his mother Mrs Z. We find the Council was at fault. This caused significant distress to Mrs Z and Mr X. To address this injustice caused by fault, the Council has agreed to apologise, make a symbolic payment and remind staff of the relevant guidance.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue written reminders to the care provider to ensure they are aware of Regulation 9, 10, 14 and 17 of the CQC guidance on how to meet the fundamental standards.

  • Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (23 005 660)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 26-Feb-2024

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council failed to meet his care needs. The Council failed to complete a review of Mr X’s care needs for 17 months, failed to consider Mr X’s capacity to make decisions about his care and finances, stopped his direct payments without notice and failed to meet his care needs in the meantime. The Council agreed to apologise to Mr X, make a symbolic payment for the distress caused to him, and review his care needs and direct payment arrangement.

    Service improvements

    The Council will create an action plan identifying the actions it has already taken, and intends to take to reduce its significant backlog of care act assessments and reassessments. The action plan will identify the actions, the timescale for each, and the measure of success. The Council will review the action plan within three months of creating it.

  • Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (22 016 928)

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

    Summary

    Miss B, complains for her grandmother, Ms C, the Council placed her in a care home without explaining the charges she would incur and delayed undertaking a financial assessment. Miss B says Ms C lived in the care home for three months before the Council told her she would need to pay a top-up fee she could not afford. We found fault with the Council for failing to provide Miss B with accurate and timely information about the cost of residential care. The Council will remedy the injustice caused to Miss B and her family by its faults by apologising and cancelling the top-up fee.

    Service improvements

    Remind staff of the Council’s duty to provide accurate and timely information to help people understand care home charges so they can make informed financial decisions.Remind staff of the Council’s duty to undertake Care Act and financial assessments in a timely manner.

  • Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (22 016 852)

    Category: Housing Date: 13-Jul-2023

    Summary

    Mr D complained how the Council handled his request to join the housing register. He says the Council unfairly refused his application without clearly explaining why and it refused to give him the opportunity to rectify matters. He also says the Council failed to deal with his complaints. We find the Council was at fault for failing to give Mr D detailed reasons why it was rejecting his appeal of its decision to exclude him from the housing register. It also failed to properly deal with his complaints. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address the injustice caused by fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue written reminders to housing staff to ensure they address the points a customer raises when they are dealing with appeals about exclusions from the housing register.

  • Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (22 013 033)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 17-Jul-2023

    Summary

    The complainant (Miss X) said the Children’s Trust (the Trust) acting for the Council failed to review contact arrangements with her son (Y) for whom a Care Order is in place. We found fault with the Council for refusing to consider Miss X’s complaint through its children’s statutory complaint procedure. This caused Miss X injustice. The Council agreed to apologise, consider Miss X’s complaint under the children’s statutory complaint procedure and make a payment. The Council also agreed to review all cases for which it applied the Unreasonable and Unreasonably Persistent Complainants and Unacceptable Behaviours policy to ensure the correct decision-making process takes place for any new complaints.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review all the cases for which within the last two years it has applied the Unreasonable and Unreasonably Persistent Complainants and Unacceptable Behaviours policy to ensure any complaints raised by the service users are either addressed through the appropriate complaints process or decisions are made whether any restrictions which have been applied before are still appropriate and necessary. The Council will provide us with the evidence of completing this action.

  • Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (22 012 365)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 17-Jul-2023

    Summary

    There were significant delays in the Council’s assessments of Mr B’s needs and reviews of his care plan. The Council also sometimes failed to properly explain how it had considered Mr B’s needs and how it had reached the decisions. The Council has agreed to apologise, to pay a financial remedy, to review the care plan and provide training to relevant staff.

    Service improvements

    •Ensure that relevant staff have received training on meeting needs of people who are deaf or have hearing loss.

  • Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (21 014 747)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 03-Aug-2023

    Summary

    Mrs Y, the late Ms X’s sister, complained to us about Ms X’s care, arranged for her by the Council and the ICB as S117 aftercare, and provided by EL Marsh Care Home. We have found fault by all the organisations because EL Marsh Care Home failed to: take adequate measures to protect Ms X from Covid-19; provide Ms X with adequate care from 5 August to 17 August and on 18 August; and provide Mrs Y with a proper response to her complaint. EL Marsh Care Home has agreed to remedy this by apologising to Mrs Y, making payments to reflect the distress, time and trouble its failures caused her and service improvements. The Council and the ICB have agreed to take steps to ensure they remain satisfied that EL Marsh Care Home can provide adequate S117 aftercare on their behalf.

    Service improvements

    the care provider has agreed to review with its senior managers:its systems for monitoring compliance of all staff with its policies and procedures;its policies and procedures for first aid training and checking staff competency in first aid and emergency procedures, and its system for ensuring all staff know at all times who to call, as the on-duty qualified first aider, to provide immediate basic life-saving first aid;its procedures, guidance and training for staff about monitoring, and testing, blood sugar levels of service users with diabetes and when to seek medical intervention;its policies and procedures form an agreement oversight of the day-to day care of individual service users and monitoring of daily logs and care records; andits policies and procedures for training and guidance to staff about the assessment of risk to service users’ health and well-being, responsibility for the escalation of concerns and seeking medical intervention.the Council and the ICB have agreed to:make its quality monitoring teams aware of this decision;if it has any service users at the care provider, take appropriate steps to satisfy itself the provider is providing a suitable level of care; andmonitor the care provider’s response to our recommendations.

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