Sandwell Council pays £700 in compensation for delays in woman’s care

An independent watchdog ordered the payout saying the authority failed to act when it should have – but there was no evidence the delays caused her to die.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found the council was at fault for failing to provide an appropriate care home for the elderly woman and in how it dealt with a complaint by her daughter.

In a summary of its findings, the watchdog said: “This caused significant distress and uncertainty about the impact this had on her mother’s health. We find the council to be at fault.”

Keeping the family’s identity confidential, an investigation found ‘Mrs B’ was living in assisted accommodation when her degenerative condition worsened in November 2018.

The care facility contacted Sandwell Council saying it could no longer meet her needs.

Two months later, it asked for an emergency review saying Mrs B was falling over regularly, had assaulted other residents and staff, had been found wandering the corridors naked and had been verbally aggressive to staff.

Move

At a meeting in January it was agreed she should be moved after her consultant said she needed to be in a more supported accommodation.

But in February the council said the move could not go ahead until a mental capacity assessment was carried out.

That did not take place until May 2019 because of a lack of qualified staff.

The council’s offer to provide a temporary placement was refused by her daughter because she did not want her mother to settle in one home before having to move again.

Four weeks later, Mrs B was admitted to hospital where she contracted sepsis after which she was moved to short stay accommodation and died soon after.

In June 2019, her daughter made a formal complaint to the council about the time her mother spent waiting for a suitable care home.

In response Sandwell Council accepted there had been delays but said the initial allocation and review took place in an acceptable time frame.

It denied there had been too many social workers involved in the case saying two members of staff regularly updated the family about what was happening.

Saying it believed the existing accommodation could manage Mrs B’s care needs in the short term, the council felt there was no urgent need for an alternative place to be found.

'Justified'

It claimed this was justified because Ms B’s daughter refused the offer of a temporary care home bed.

Dissatisfied with its response Mrs B’s daughter complained to the Ombudsman saying she believed the delay contributed to her mother’s death.

Rejecting that, the watchdog said: “I cannot say whether or not Mrs B’s hospital stay was avoidable and so had a direct impact on Mrs B’s health.

“I do not have the evidence to draw such a conclusion. Mrs B was not in good health and could have needed hospital care even if she had been in an appropriate setting.”

But the Ombudsman did criticise the council saying: “I cannot agree with the social worker’s assessment that the situation was not urgent because the accommodation could be managed. The evidence I have seen does not support such a view.

“Having considered all of the evidence, on balance I find it was more likely that the accommodation had to ‘manage’ because of the council’s failure to take action when it should have done.”

Commenting on the time taken waiting for the mental capacity assessment, it added: “Everyone involved in the decision, including Mrs B, her family, Mrs B’s consultant, the social worker and the accommodation agreed she had to move.

“There is no statutory duty to conduct an assessment in respect of every decision of a potentially incapacitated person. The council appears to have taken an overly restrictive approach to the necessity of the formal assessment and contributed to the delay.”

Ordering Sandwell to apologise and pay £700 to the family he said it should prepare a report explaining how similar problems do not reoccur in the future.

In response to watchdog’s findings a Sandwell Council spokesman, said: “We are aware of this case and the determination made by the Local Government Ombudsman.

“We are undertaking a full review of this case so that we are able to support better outcomes for our residents.

“We have enacted the recommendations made by the Local Government Ombudsman and have apologised to the complainant concerned as requested by the Local Government Ombudsman.”