On 1st April 2006 the new Social Services complaints regulations “Listening & Learning” came into force. They follow a major consultation conducted in 2001 called “Listening to People” involving professionals and service users.
The aim of the guidance is to provide as far as is possible a seamless complaints service for users of public services by building links with other complaints processes in the authority, in contracted-out services and with NHS and CSSIW to enable the process of making a complaint more straightforward.
Representations and complaints procedures in Social Services department’s are a statutory requirement and can play a major part in assisting local authorities to monitor the effectiveness and quality of services provided.
2.LISTENING TO OUR SERVICE USERSThe aim of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council is to offer high quality and professional support to those who use our services and to the community. We also need to know how our services are valued and whether they are truly responsive to the changing needs and circumstances of the people in Blaenau Gwent.
Complaints about our services are viewed positively and customer feedback is considered an essential part of our quality assurance systems. People are encouraged to use the complaints procedure and listening to our service users is an essential part of the complaints process and provides a route for problems to be corrected and services to be improved.
Representations which include compliments and other general comments and suggestions about Social Services are also encouraged. The procedure is open, accessible and well publicised.
3.PROGRESS TO DATE – TRAINING & STAFF SUPPORTSince the implementation of the new complaints regulations and guidance in April 2006, the department has commissioned a consultant to deliver investigation training for stage 2 to 10 senior managers within the department. These managers undertake investigations at the formal consideration stage of the process and work with an independent person for complaints received from children’s services. Blaenau Gwent Social Services now has 4 managers from the Business Management Division, 3 from Children’s Services and 3 from Adult Services who are trained investigators.
All staff are expected to accept and resolve complaints. Training for the rest of the department commenced in June 2006 and to date a total of 208 have benefited from the training programme recommended in the new guidance. There are approximately 800 staff employed in the Social Services department and it is our intention to train everyone. A workshop was also arranged for Departmental Managers so that they could give their views and suggestions on how they can improve the complaints process. The training sessions take place every month for 2 half days and there are 25 places available at each session.
Investigators and staff are supported throughout the investigation by the complaints officer with a briefing and a pack containing relevant paperwork and information. A de-briefing is also arranged after the response from the authority has been completed.
A database has been developed for complaints by the Performance & IT Team and is able to report all the statistical information required for the balanced scorecards for all services. The system is comprehensive and sophisticated and provides information for the Senior Management Team and Executive Members whenever required.
The department continues to attend any Corporate Children’s Complaints workshops and has assisted in establishing the “Service Buddy” scheme which was launched in March 2007. This service is corporately run and offers a freephone telephone number, text messaging service and email address to children between the ages of 5 to 18 who wish to complain about any of the services provided by Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council.
4.MAKING A COMPLAINTBlaenau Gwent Social Services Department are keen to support those who wish to complain, compliment or make suggestions about our services and have ensured that the bi-lingual leaflets have been distributed to relevant public places e.g. GP surgeries, post offices, libraries, health centres, etc.
The contact telephone number for the complaints officer has also been widely published together with information on how to get advice and help to make a complaint.
Translations of the Representations & Complaints procedure can be provided on request and arrangements can be made for interpretation services, when required.
5.SOCIAL SERVICES COMPLAINTS PROCEDUREStage 1 – Informal (Local Resolution)
The vast majority of complaints are resolved at stage 1 by the team manager of the service complained about. Copies of the responses to complaints are sent to the Service Manager for their approval from the team manager before posting to the complainant. It has also been agreed that team managers meet with the complainant during stage 1 to ensure a satisfactory result before sending out conformation in writing.
Stage 2 – Formal Consideration
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council commissioned a consultant to train 10 of their senior officers to undertake formal investigations.
All investigations are subject to the statutory time limits of 25 working days for completion. The complainant receives a full response detailing the findings, conclusions and recommendations.
If during the investigation deadlines cannot be met, permission from the complainant is sought to extend the time limit and is recorded with their signature on the file.
Stage 3 – Independent Review Panel
If complainants remain dissatisfied following stage 2 they would already have had the information informing them how to proceed to stage 3.
Ombudsman
The Ombudsman offers an independent and unbiased service to complainants relating to any public services and considers complaints about a wide range of matters. Blaenau Gwent received correspondence from the Public Services Ombudsman referring to a complainant who had not been satisfied with the outcome to his complaint. The Ombudsman decided to decline the request for further investigation.
Upheld, Not Upheld or Resolution
The philosophy underpinning the revised guidance from the Welsh Assembly Government was to move away from upheld or not upheld towards seeking a constructive resolution to enable the complaint to move on. Therefore, we do not record complaints as being upheld or not upheld – what we do record is actions we have agreed, to seek resolution.
We offer complainants at stage one the opportunity to progress to stage 2 if they are not satisfied with the resolution and therefore we can assume that of the 56 complaints received, 49 were satisfied with the response. This is 88%.
Of the complaints that progressed to stage two, we offer complainants the opportunity to progress to stage three, if they are not satisfied with our response at stage two. There were nine complaints at stage two, only two of which progressed to stage three. Therefore, we can assume that 88% of stage two complainants were satisfied.
Of the 2 complaints that did progress to stage three, the panel supported our actions in response.
6. TOTAL COMPLAINTS MADEComplaints v Total Service Users
Adult Services1.24%Children’s Services3.80%
2581 people living in the community received a service from adult social care during 2006/07. Of this number only 32 complaints were made making the overall percentage of dissatisfaction with the service at 1.24%.
There were 605 service users for 2006/07 receiving service from the children’s division and of these 23 complaints were made against the service. This makes a percentage of
3.80%.
NUMBER OF COMPLAINTS MADE
The majority of complaints were resolved locally (stage 1). However, of the 56 complaints received 9 progressed to the formal consideration stage (stage 2) and of those 9, 2 were referred to the independent review panel (stage 3).
These figures for 2006/07 are down in comparison to 2005/06 and reflect the department’s work and commitment to improving the services we provide. Our complaints arrangements are far more robust than they have been in previous years. Through training, staff understand and recognise why users of our services can sometimes be unhappy or dissatisfied and are responding promptly to avoid unnecessary conflict.
Adult Services
Of the 32 complaints received:
12 related to community care issues
7 – Domiciliary services
1 – Mental health
3 – Occupational therapy
1 – Supporting people
5 – Independent care homes
3 – Day Services
Children’s Services
23 complaints were received relating to the following teams:
5 – Child and families in need
6 – Children with disabilities
2 – Fostering
4 – Intake and assessment
5 – Looked after children
1 – Other department
Business Management
The only complaint received relating to the Business Management division was regarding issues concerning the finance department.
Acknowledgement of Complaint
Of the 56 complaints received a total of 45 (80%) were acknowledged within 24 hours.
11 (19.5%) took longer than 24 hours to acknowledge, the longest time being 48 hours. Our target for next year will be 100% of all complaints to be acknowledged within 24 hours.
PERCENTAGE OF COMPLAINTS MADE BY SERVICE
COMPLAINTS BY SERVICE AREA
COMPLAINTS BY GEOGRAPHICAL AREA
SOURCE OF COMPLAINTS
Of all the complaints received only 25% were referred by the complainant, 75% were referred by others on behalf of the service user.
NATURE OF COMPLAINTS – ADULT SERVICES
The most common aspects of services complained about in Adult Services are detailed above.
NATURE OF COMPLAINTS – CHILDREN SERVICES
The above chart details the nature of complaints received from Children’s Services
NATURE OF COMPLAINTS – BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
There was one complaint received against the Finance Section of the Business Management Division. This complaint related to charges that the service user queried.
STAGE 1 – ADHERENCE TO TIMESCALES adherence to timescale
The following chart indicates that 50% of adult complaints were resolved within the timescale. 60% of Children’s Services complaints were completed within the timescale.
STAGE 2
Of the nine complaints that progressed to stage 2, 1 from Business Management was within the agreed timescale. I from Children’s Services was one day over the timescale and 7 complainants agreed extension beyond 25 days.
STAGE 3
The two complaints that were referred to the Independent Review Panel were resolved in 51 days and 57 days and the panel supported our actions in response.
TIMESCALE FOR TOTAL AMOUNT OF COMPLAINTS 2006/07
The above chart details the amount of complaints that were responded to within and outside of the timescale.
Adult Services 40% within timescale
59% outside the timescale
Children’s Services47% within timescale
52% outside the timescale
7.COMMENTSAs shown in the chart above the department also received 38 letters from the Member of Parliament, Assembly Member and Elected Members representing service users on various issues. The complaints department follow the same guidelines for enquiries and representations as we do for complaints. Most of this correspondence is sent directly to our Corporate Director.
Of the 38 letters, 6 were relating to Children’s Services, 29 related to Adult Services and 3 for the Business Management division. 23 (60%) were completed within 10 working days and the remainder of 15 (39%) were referred to other departments for their attention.
8.COMPLIMENTSA total of 41 compliments were received. 24 related to adult services, 3 to children’s services and 4 to Business Management.
9.LESSONS LEARNED
Review of effectiveness of the Complaints Arrangements
We have a taken a strategic approach to the management of our complaints and developed what we consider to be a robust framework. However, throughout the year a number of issues have become apparent.
Stage 1
Some of our managers are having difficulty meeting the 10 day timescale due to other more pressing work commitments. Prioritising their workload to include responding to complaints within the timescale will ensure that our customers feel that we take their complaint seriously.
Stage 2
As mentioned earlier in this report 10 of our senior managers have been trained to investigate stage 2 complaints. Because each complaint takes an average of 35 to 40 hours to complete, there is evidence that the process of investigating is putting a great strain on our managers and some have needed to work many extra unpaid hours to ensure that they can also meet the demands of their normal working day.
Stage 3
The Independent Reviewing Panel agreed in favour of the authority for the two complaints that progressed to stage 3.
Although Blaenau Gwent has no issues with this part of the procedures, a meeting has been arranged with the National Assembly for Wales by a sub-group of the All Wales Complaints Officers Group to address issues nationwide. The good practice guide published by the National Assembly has been sent to all authorities for comment and suggestions by the sub-group have been included in the draft copy.
10.LEARNING FROM COMPLAINTS
In 2007/08 we are developing a perspective from those who have complained, about the effectiveness of the complaints service we provide.
Through staff training we are emphasising the need to encourage service users to inform us if they are not completely satisfied with the service they receive and are asking our staff members to relay the message that complaints, comments and suggestions will benefit the department in a positive way.
This is a huge culture shift from the way complaints have been addressed in the past, but, managers in the department are confident that over time we will be successful in our attempts to ensure the community, that the department will learn a great deal from the users of our services. By sending us their complaints, comments and suggestions they will be assisting us to shape the services that they need in the future.
Brenda Hulbert
Customer Relations & Management Support
Team Manager
26th June 2007
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