My father’s package of care has been pulled by the care agency as a result of raising concerns about the quality and standards of his care package. The matters I raised were upheld. I will not go into them here. However, immediately after Christmas, we received notification from social services that this care agency is terminating their contract. I have the reason, but am not going to quote it here as it can easily identify us/them etc.
I believe though, the family, and particularly my father, has been a victim as a result of my raising complaints as his power of attorney.
Is there such as thing, and has anyone else experienced something like this that they would be willing to share? If so, what did you do next?
Many thanks for taking the opportunity to read this.
A disturbing posting which is not , unfortunately , rare on the forum.
For my bit , Social Care Institute for Excellance ( SCIE ) … and an extract from their site :
__
How to complain about care services
When making a complaint about a service:
Try to resolve the problem at an early stage by talking to staff or managers at the service first.
If your concern is about the manager you could contact more senior staff such as trustees or directors.
If the problem cannot be resolved informally, ask for a copy of the organisation’s complaints procedure; it should outline the process for taking the matter further. At this point you may also want to make contact with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) or the local authority that funds the service.
Put your complaint in writing and keep a record of any related correspondence or phone calls.
If the outcome of the complaint is unsatisfactory, it can be referred to the commissioning or funding authority (usually the local authority or NHS). The complaints procedure should give information on who to contact.
If the service or local authority is unresponsive you can approach your local councillor or MP They may be able to help.
If the complaint is not satisfactorily resolved locally, contact The Local Government Ombudsmanor The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
If the complaint is about poor quality or standards, The Care Quality Commission should be informed.
If all other avenues have been exhausted, and the commissioning authority is thought to have failed in its statutory duties, the issue can be taken to judicial review. This is a High Court hearing that will examine whether the authority in question has correctly interpreted and followed the law. This option can, however, be very costly as legal assistance may be needed.
Some campaigning charities may provide legal support to pursue certain cases.
The above does not cover " Victimisation ! … my searches only reveal such cases when staff are victimised , not receivers of care support services.
May well be a job for the CAB to look at this case , and advise on the future course of action.
Thanks once more Chris. I no longer wish to complaint about the incidents - as that has been resolved. I now need to know where to go next as I am not happy about the service being pulled.
I wanted to work with this care agency to help get an improved service for my father. As a carer of 10 years, but more intensively lately, I like lots of others on this forum, probably have lots of good advice to share to care agency staff who are relatively new in their careers, and I really did want to work with them in a positive way to achieve positive outcomes.
However, I also had to raise my concerns about the previous service quality.
It’s very difficult trying to get through to CAB in our area by phone. I have had several failed attempts.
I do feel overall though, if I had kept my mouth shut, this service would still be provided. Therefore, I use the word “victimisation” as I do feel that the service has been pulled after raising my complaints.
I’ve dared to complain about my son’s service. Once both dom care and day services all pulled. SSD did nothing.
Similar situations later. Didn’t even investigate when the auditor they appointed themselves found £2,500 misappropriated!!
Hi Paul, my mother’s care agency pulled out after my safeguarding case but was replaced by another by the local authority. Did social services arrange for your previous agency? If so, and perhaps even if they didn’t, they ought to provide a substitute.
Paul, in that case make a subject access request to the agency, asking for copies everything they have written about you. They have ;30 days to comply, or you can go to the Information Commissioner.
Thank you for replying once again Bowlingbun.
I wonder if you wouldn’t mind kindly letting me know what the purpose would be of asking for a subject access request? Would it be about me (the representative of the service user) or the service user (my father)?
This is all new territory for me, so grateful for the advice.
Paul.