National Ombudsmen
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LGO issues first adverse findings notice into Surrey private care provider.
The Local Government Ombudsman has issued its first adverse findings notice against a private care provider.
The notice was issued against Surrey-based homecare provider, Help Unlimited, following a complaint from a service user’s family and related to a period when the company was under previous directors. The company has since been purchased by a different organisation.
This is the first time that a provider has failed to comply with the ombudsman’s recommendations, and in this case the LGO has issued a public notice, because the original managers not only failed to act upon recommendations but failed to issue a notice to the media, as is required by legislation.
During the course of the investigation, the provider failed to supply written records to the ombudsman. The provider then said that it had destroyed the records so it was not possible for the LGO to carry out a proper investigation.
Dr Jane Martin, Local Government Ombudsman, said:
“This is the first time in three years that I have had to issue such a notice against a private care provider, and shows just how seriously I take a provider’s failure to comply with its obligations to address complaints.”
The recommendations made to the original owners included that the provider apologise to the complainant for the failures identified in the findings, to review its procedures so that records are held in compliance with the Data Protection Act and to make a payment to the complainant of £250 for the uncertainty caused by the destruction of care records.
The LGO has had the power to investigate private care providers since October 2010, when its powers were extended to deal with complaints from people who fund or arrange their own care.
The LGO is alone within the United Kingdom in providing a single, seamless service for resolving complaints about adult social care, whether that care is funded privately or from the public purse. This role provides us with a unique insight into the experiences of people who have been let down by the social care system.
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