How to complain about Adult Care Social Services:
Guidance to the Statutory Adult Social Care Complaints Procedure:
If you feel unhappy about our service to you, we want to hear from you. We want to try to make it right for you and we have a duty to make it clear how you can do this.
Do not worry about speaking up if you are unhappy. Adult Social Care want to put things right for you as quickly as possible.
Who can make a complaint?
You can make a complaint to Adult Care and Support if we:
- Have done an assessment with you
- Give you a service
- Give you a direct payment or individual budget
If you need someone to help you, you can choose someone to speak for you.
You might want an advocate to help you. They are trained to help people speak up. They are not employed by the Council.
We can arrange this for you, please contact us to let us know you would like this to happen
If you need help making your complaint, we can provide support. Please contact us for details.
You can contact us by phone: 0300 1234 105
Or by email: enquiries@scilly.gov.uk
Or in writing: Complaints Manager, Council of the Isles of Scilly, Town Hall, St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly, TR21 0LW
When we get your complaint, our Complaints Manager will write to you within 2 days to let you know we have your complaint.
We will talk with you and see if we can sort it out for you that way.
We will always put in writing what we have talked about, and check that you are happy with the outcome.
If that isn’t right for you, or if you’re not happy with that, we can get a manager to look into it.
Formal route: (Stage 1):
They will write to you to tell you what they have found out within 10 days. They may need to talk to you to find out more about your complaint.
They might need a bit more time to look into the complaint. If they do, they will let you know. They then have up to 10 more days before they contact you again.
If you have an advocate helping you, these times start once we have heard from them.
We will always put in writing what we have found out. We will check with you if that has sorted your complaint out for you.
If this doesn’t sort out your complaint for you, let us know within 20 days. In that case, it will go to the next stage of inquiry:
Formal route (Stage 2):
We will get an independent person to look further into your complaint. They will contact you to see what you are still unhappy with, and what you are looking for or wanting to happen. They will put that in writing and check you agree.
The Independent Person will make a report with a senior manager from Adult Care. This report is Called the Independent Review. They report to the Director of Adult Social Services or another representative. This usually takes 25 to 65 days.
The Local Government Ombudsman
Complainants may contact the Local Government Ombudsman at any stage of their complaint. However, the Ombudsman will usually recommend the complaint is initially pursued via the Local Authority’s Complaints Procedure (Stages 1 & 2).
Contact details: Local Government Ombudsman PO Box 4771 Coventry CV4 0EH
Phone: 0300 061 0614 Fax: 024 7682 0001
Complainants who wish to make an electronic complaint can visit the LGO website and use their online form www.lgo.org.uk/making-a-complaint
Advocates
Sometimes people need help expressing their wishes or understanding information around health, care and support decisions.
Advocacy is having someone to help you with this.
An advocate is someone who supports and represents you when dealing with issues to do with your:
- Care and support
- Medical treatment
- Mental health needs
An advocate could be a family member or friend. You can also have an Independent advocate, if there isn't anyone else suitable to help you.
Advocates help people to:
- Speak up for themselves
- Get their voice heard
- Understand and use their rights
- Find and understand information
- Make their own decisions about what they need & want
- Tell people like professionals, social workers, nurses and doctors what they want
What is an independent advocate?
An independent advocate is someone who is paid to support you to make sure:
- That your views and rights are respected.
- That you are treated fairly.
- That your concerns are taken into account.
- That you have real control over the big decisions in your life.
They can help you:
- Speak up at meetings.
- Deal with difficult issues.
- Help you to understand important decisions that are being made.
- Challenge decisions made that you don’t agree with
They are professionally trained. Support is free, confidential and independent of the local authority and or health service.
The Advocacy People deliver the Independent Advocacy service on the Isles of Scilly.
or further information on Advocacy please see The Advocacy People website. This includes the services they provide in Cornwall and contact details:
Visit The Advocacy People website
The Council must involve people in decisions made about them and their care and support. We need to help people understand their options and to make their own decisions.
There are 'statutory duties' that tell the council when they must involve an independent advocate. You can speak with your Adult social care worker about how to make a referral to The Advocacy People, also Healthwatch Isles of Scilly are able to signpost to advocacy support and can be contacted here:contact@healthwatchislesofscilly.co.uk 01720 423037