Adult Care Services / Hertfordshire Care Providers Association- December 2010 “Reporting Compliments Complaints and information”

New complaints Regulations April 2009 (Implemented September 2009) Council’s three complaints stage process ended Stage 1- Local Resolution by Council (6 months) Stage 2 – Local Government Ombudsman Introduced - Complaint Planning with an emphasis on early resolution Creative approach responding to complaints A “Duty to cooperate” between Health and Social Care Consent from the complainant before passing to a provider

Amendment to Regulations September 2009 Where a complaint is made about a commissioned service; This is as if the complaint is being made about the County Council “The local authority has made arrangements with a person for the discharge of a relevant function; and the complaint relates to the discharge of, or the failure to discharge, a relevant function under those arrangements.” A relevant function means, “any of the local authority's social services functions; or any function to be discharged by the local authority under arrangements,” through providers.

Local Government Ombudsman- LGO From October 2010 the LGO will have new powers to investigate complaints about care providers, from people purchasing or arranging their own care. ( Homecare and Residential / Nursing Homes) The LGO can investigate Local Authority commissioned care alongside privately funded or arranged care Council first / Provider first – but with exceptions

Current Reporting Format Complaints Concerns and Compliments should be reported to ACS Service Solutions Teams Local Teams and ACS Commissioning use this information to monitor the quality of care being provided It is referred to in Safeguarding and Serious Concerns Processes

Proposed Format Information to be reported electronically via Herts Direct Website All complaints and concerns to be reported for commissioned and non commissioned residents Non commissioned residents personal data, to be replaced with a reference number Homes can also inform Adult Care Services of Compliments, Issues and developments in service Delivery

What does this mean? ACS would be able to monitor information about Commissioned Services more reliably Where there is a dual complaint / safeguarding matter, clear direction Identify trends within residential homes before a Safeguarding or Serious Concerns processes begin Learning and Development can be identified Balanced picture of compliments and good practice

Adult Care Services Commissioned Services Concerns/Complaint/Compliment and Service Improvement Report

Main Menu Add a new report/Search for an existing report

Adding a new report (screen opens up according to service type and type of report chosen)

Adding a new report Example of completed residential concern

Adding a new report Confirmation screen

Main menu Searching for an existing report

Main menu Search results

View of existing report (Cannot change original entries, but additional details can be added)

View of additional details added for an existing report

Adding outcomes to an existing report

Complaints and safeguarding - Update 2010 On receiving a complaint, the responsible manager should consider if an investigation under the safeguarding procedure should be carried out. Where a safeguarding concern referred to Adult Care Services is investigated, the investigating manager must consider if there is a complaint to answer to and at what stage this can be dealt with. This is particularly important if the police are investigating a possible criminal offence. The complainant must then be informed of decisions by the responsible manager providing this does not interfere with the safeguarding process. If a complaint is placed on hold until the safeguarding process has concluded, it is important to ensure the complaint is then dealt with by the responsible manager. Where complaints and safeguarding overlap a record of this must be made by the responsible team on both the complaints and client record.

David Price – Joint Head of Complaint and Client Relations David Price - Head of Complaints and Client Relations Karen Evans – Client Relations Manager Stephanie Byway – Support Officer Telephone – – or