Agenda item

To prepare an Annual Report on the implementation of the Representations and Complaints Procedure for submission to the Care Scrutiny Committee in order to scrutinise and monitor the arrangements for dealing effectively with complaints received from service users and their representatives.

To accept the report, noting the observations made during the discussion.

The report was presented by the Cabinet Member for Adults, Health and Well-being, Cabinet Member for Children and Families, Head of Adults, Health and Well-being Department, Assistant Head - Safeguarding and Quality (Children and Supporting Families Department), Assistant Head - Safeguarding, Quality Assurance, Mental Health and Community Safety of the Adults, Health and Well-being Department.

Members were reminded that the Council had a statutory responsibility to report on how it investigated and responded to complaints in accordance with the Social Services Complaints Procedure (Wales) Regulations 2014 and the Representations Procedure (Wales) Regulations 2014. It was explained that these arrangements for social services differed from the general complaints system operated within the Council.

It was confirmed that the Report shared information about the Adults, Health and Well-being Department as well as the Children and Supporting Families Department in a bid to ensure that the same arrangements were in place for both departments.

It was explained that specific criteria were used to identify which events were appropriate to respond to. It was noted that these were usually services that had been provided up to 12 months in advance of the complaint being lodged, rather than historical matters.

It was elaborated that the Stage 1 procedure was a means of trying to resolve the complaints by receiving the team manager's response and holding direct conversations with the complainants. It was confirmed that if this did not resolve the situation, complainants were entitled to request an investigation as part of the Stage 2 arrangements. It was emphasised that these were conducted by investigators who were independent of the Council but were individuals on a recognised list. It was explained that complainants could start the process at Stage 2 without going through Stage 1, noting that this was now the tendency, particularly with Children and Family cases. It was noted that if the matter could not be resolved following an investigation, it could be escalated to the Ombudsman. However, it was emphasised that no issue had progressed to this stage.

It was explained that the independent investigator was qualified, experienced and managed to deal with the complexity of cases. It was noted that there was a shortage of Welsh-speaking investigators and that this was a challenge for the service and created delays in investigations as there was a need to ensure that a Welsh speaker was available to look through information and interview individuals. It was further expanded that there was a challenge in identifying independent Welsh-speaking investigators as many of them had been working locally in the area or for Gwynedd itself, resulting in a reduction in the number of people available to carry out investigations.

It was reported that Complaints Officers and Senior Complaints Officers were available to facilitate these processes. It was emphasised that they administered the processes objectively, even though the service was located within social services. It was noted that this work could be challenging due to complainants' frustration and dissatisfaction with the service they wanted to complain about.

Timescales were referred to, stating that officers had 10 days to respond to a Stage 1 complaint and 25 days to respond to a Stage 2 independent investigation. It was explained that the Adults, Health and Well-being Department responded to 82% of Stage 1 complaints in a timely manner and the Children and Supporting Families Department managed to respond to 92% of them in a timely manner.

It was noted that the Departments had learnt some lessons following the discussions and investigations into complaints such as tensions with families, conflicts with decisions and difficulties in providing care. Reference was made to some tiresome complainants, who remained dissatisfied with the situation following the full responses and noted that there appeared to be an increase in number of threats. It was elaborated that some individuals succeeded in finding out personal information about members of staff and shared information on social media, resulting in difficulty in maintaining continuous contact. It was emphasised that the Council had a policy to deal with tiresome complainants stating that the threshold to be identified as 'tiresome complainants' was very high to ensure that complainants could complain if they did not receive due service.

It was mentioned that the service also dealt with data protection legislation, ensuring that applications from individuals and the courts were dealt with appropriately. It was also noted that officers dealt with freedom of information requests. It was explained that 316 requests were received in the Children and Supporting Families Department and 40 requests for related information to the Adults, Health and Well-being Department last year and that there was pressure on officers to ensure that the information shared was appropriate and acceptable for the purpose of the requests.

During the discussion, the following observations were noted: 

The complaints and the results of the investigations were discussed as seen in the report, stating that a number of them were unfounded. In response to the observations, the Assistant Head of Safeguarding and Quality noted that the majority of complaints received were unfounded but there were findings from time to time. It was elaborated that some complaints ended in partial findings, where some of the points discussed in the complaint were upheld and others were unfounded. It was emphasised that some complaints indicated that there were no lessons to be learnt, detailing that this would be indicated for any complaint where there was a proper procedure already in place. It was noted that only in new situations that arose would the complaint indicate that there were lessons to be learnt.

An observation was received that there was a possibility that some service users were unhappy with services and did not want to complain and that their relatives could not complain on their behalf, leading to higher numbers of complaints that could not be included in the data. In response, the Head of the Adults, Health and Well-being Department confirmed that the departments collaborated with individuals in a preventative way before situations were escalated as a complaint. It was explained that this was a very effective method of ensuring that every person using services were happy with them. It was hoped that any concerns users might have were addressed in this manner. It was emphasised that the Council complied with all statutory regulations and the need to ensure adherence to them was explained. Anyone who was not happy with the services they received was urged to get in touch with the department to resolve this.

RESOLVED

To accept the report, noting the observations made during the discussion.