Agenda item

Report of the Corporate Director of Adults and Housing

Members received a report of the Corporate Director of Adults and Housing which set out the statutory Adults Services complaints Annual report (social care) 2010/11.

An officer outlined the headlines of the report advising that in the last six years there had been 85 local settlements and of those only 5 related to Adults Services.  This seemed to indicate that things were working well.  Whilst the officer indicated that he had no major concerns, he would like to see timescales improve.

Members indicated that it was a good report and questioned and challenged its contents.  Members’ concerns and queries were responded to as follows:

·                    The officer confirmed that there was no evidence of a rise in complaints, rather that the figures remained steady, since the restructure.

·                    A Member commented that benchmarking with other authorities may be useful to enable comparison of the level of complaints.  The officer stated that whilst benchmarking was done, the current year data was received too late for inclusion.  He could, however, include the previous year’s data.

·                    An executive summary would be beneficial in such a detailed report.

·                    A Member questioned the level of independence at stage 2 and 3 of a complaint if stage 3 was signed off by a Corporate Director.  He expressed surprise that the Chief Executive did not monitor such complaints before they were referred to the Ombudsman.  The officer advised that this was in line with government guidance and whilst the ultimate responsibility lay with the Chief Executive, it could be delegated.

·                    In terms of staff attitude complaints, the officer advised that considerable work was being done around raising awareness and accessibility of the complaints procedure.

·                    The officer confirmed that the most recent mystery shopper exercise had been carried out approximately 10 months ago and that he attended the customer services working group.

·                    A Member questioned how MP and Councillor complaints were captured.  The officer stated that in terms of MPs, a letter was usually received. In terms of councillors, he felt that levels were low and if Members had concerns they should contact the complaints team.

·                    In response to a Member’s question as to corrective actions for complaints over time, the officer advised that there were corrective actions and an annual quality assurance report.  The Member suggested that a summary would be helpful.

·                    A Member challenged the figures in terms of the number of stage 1 complaints made by Councillors, commenting that the Performance and Finance Scrutiny Sub-Committee had carried out a check and a complaint made to test the system had not been logged.  The officer acknowledged the issue and that it seemed that some complaints were not logged on to the corporate system.  The Member responded that the breakdown gave a bad impression and that it might be better to state that the information was not available.

·                    A Member stated that some cultures needed to receive reassurance that they could complain without issue/reprisal.  The Officer advised that Council literature referred to comments rather than complaints and whilst the system could be made as accessible as possible, some communities did not wish to complain.

·                    A Member expressed the view that more compliments were received than were reported.

The Portfolio Holder for Adults and Social Care welcomed the report and the fact that the Council was having a lot of activity in this area, which highlighted whether the service was better or not.  It was pleasing to see a reduction in the number of occupational therapy complaints, an indication that the Council was resolving the issues with adaptations.  The introduction of reablement had been a significant issue for the service. In summing up, the Portfolio Holder stated that the report was encouraging.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.