Complaints about care service up 22% in a year: Ombudsman’s damning verdict on help for elderly and vulnerable

August 1st, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

By
Jason Groves

PUBLISHED:

19:59 EST, 31 July 2012

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UPDATED:

19:59 EST, 31 July 2012

Complaints over care provision have risen by nearly a quarter in a year, a report said yesterday.

The biggest complaint was the quality of care, with the poor attitude of some care staff also a common grievance, according to the Local Government Ombudsman for England.

In its annual report on adult social care, the Ombudsman highlighted one case of ‘poor, inconsistent and, on occasion, non-existent care’ provided to a man paying for his own home care package.

The biggest rise in complaints of care for the elderly centred on the standard of care provided

The damning verdict came after the care workers involved failed to follow instructions to contact the man’s GP when he fell ill. As a result his condition got worse and, after eventually being taken to hospital, he ended up having to go into a residential care home. The care workers were later sacked.

In another case, a care provider called in debt collectors to tackle an elderly man, amid confusion over whether the local council had agreed to fund the shopping and cleaning services care he had received. The bailiffs were called off only after the Ombudsman intervened on the man’s behalf.

A third case involved a care home that failed to report an elderly man missing for more than two hours. He was later found walking the streets in a ‘confused’ state.

The Ombudsman said it had received more than 1,000 complaints about adult social care in the 2011/12 financial year – a 22 per cent rise on the previous year. The increase is partly explained by a widening of its remit to include private contractors used by councils to provide care.

But the Ombudsman said a number of key grievances had still not been addressed, including inaccurate billing, lack of skill in dealing with dementia and slow response to calls.

The report found there is a major need to improve care in residential homes and the care elderly people receive in their own homes

The main difficulties related to the standard of care provided. Patients and relatives complained of poorly trained staff with bad attitudes who sometimes failed to turn up or made only very short calls.

Some complained that personnel involved in care also changed far too frequently.

The rise in complaints underlines concerns raised by the Daily Mail’s Dignity for the Elderly campaign.

The Ombudsman said the profile of elderly care had been raised by scandals surrounding the financial problems at the Southern Cross care home group and undercover filming of abuse at the Winterbourne View care home near Bristol.

Its report said: ‘There has been increasing public concern about the quality of care services since we took on our new role, with a renewed need to provide the public with greater confidence and assurance in the quality of provision.’

The study found there was still a major need to improve the quality of care, both in residential homes and in people’s own homes. It also found that councils and care providers should do more to investigate complaints swiftly.

Ombudsman Dr Jane Martin said: ‘The LGO has an important part to play in providing information from complaints to support informed choice of services and to bring about improvements.

‘Our work with adult social care providers puts us in a good position to resolve disputes with providers and seek redress for citizens who pay for their own services.’