Swindon Borough Council (24 014 388)

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

Summary

Mrs X complained about the Council’s handling of her late mother’s care. We found fault because the Council was too slow to begin assessment and planning processes, too slow to share care cost information and did not always follow up on actions or effectively communicate with Mrs X. This caused her avoidable distress, frustration and uncertainty. To remedy this injustice, the Council has agreed to apologise and make a symbolic payment to her.

Service improvements

Swindon Borough Council (23 019 908)

Category: Adult care services Date: 14-Nov-2024

Summary

Mr X complained about how the Council handled Mrs Y’s care and the family’s requests for a residential placement. He also complained about the Council’s safeguarding actions after Mrs Y suffered injuries following a medical emergency. Mr X said this distressed Mrs Y and her family. There was fault in the way the Council did not complete appropriate assessments, delayed completing the safeguarding investigation and did not follow its complaint process. Mr X and Mrs Y were caused uncertainty and distressed by the fault identified. The Council should apologise, make a financial payment and provide guidance to its staff.

Service improvements

Swindon Borough Council (20 011 171)

Category: Adult care services Date: 18-Aug-2021

Summary

Mrs B complained about information an NHS Trust provided to the Council’s commissioned care home provider when her late father was discharged from hospital in December 2019. She complains a Surgery prescribed antibiotics but failed to send the prescription to the pharmacy. She also said the Home delayed in following up on the medication her father needed, and this contributed to his untimely death. We found the Trust at fault for poor record keeping when it dealt with the discharge, but it improved. Faults in the way the Surgery made an electronic request for medication and the Home’s failure to take follow up action caused delay in the medication being received. The Surgery and the Home also missed an opportunity to report the incident to the Council so it could consider its safeguarding procedures. The authorities have agreed to our recommendations and the Council will monitor the Home to ensure it improves the way it records discharge information and it will provide safeguarding training if necessary. The Surgery will remind its staff of the importance of reporting safeguarding concerns to the Council when dealing with incidents relating to patient safety. The Home and the Surgery will apologise to Mrs B for the missed opportunity which contributed to doubt she has about the events which occurred.

Service improvements

Swindon Borough Council (20 000 973)

Category: Adult care services Date: 19-Aug-2021

Summary

Mrs C complains about the Council’s management of her late father’s care home charges. There was delay in providing a full statement of account, and a failure to take action in respect of Mr B’s pension. The Council has agreed to the Ombudsman’s recommendation that it reimburse the £218.00 probate charges, in addition to the £262.07 it has already agreed to write off. It has also put in place measures to improve its management of client accounts.

Service improvements

Swindon Borough Council (19 016 113)

Category: Adult care services Date: 24-Oct-2021

Summary

Mrs D complains about her father-in-law, Mr E’s discharge planning by the Council and subsequent care in a nursing home and a hospital. We found fault with some aspects of Mr E’s care and have made recommendations to the Council and Home to improve their services. We did not find fault with the Hospital.

Service improvements