Meeting documents

            Meeting: Standards Committee (County Hall, Durham - Committee Room 1A - 20/11/2007 10:00:00 AM)

                  Item: A7 Annual Report of Social Care Representations Procedure 2006/07 - Report of Corporate Director of Adult and Community Services

         

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Standards Committee 20 November 2007 Annual Report of Social Care Representations Procedure 2006/07
Report of Rachael Shimmin, Corporate Director of Adult and Community Services

Purpose of Report 1 To inform Standards Committee about performance in respect of the handling and consideration of adult social care representations and complaints, and non-statutory complaints in Adult and Community Services as contained in the (attached) Annual Report on Representations 2006/07. Background

2 Publication of the Annual Report on Representations in Adult Social Care is a statutory requirement.

3 The NHS & Community Care Act 1990 requires that details are published about representations, including comments/suggestions, compliments and complaints, received from service users, carers and their representatives during the year.

4 Legislation also requires that the Annual Report contains information about how Social Care has performed in its management and operation of the Representations Procedure against national and local standards.

5. Whilst there is no legal requirement to publish non-statutory annual representations’ data and analysis, the Authority is committed to openness and transparency. For the first time the Annual Report includes representation information to reflect the restructuring of services. Because of current reporting systems the data referring to non-statutory representations is not as comprehensive as it could be but steps will be taken to consolidate the work that has been undertaken in raising the profile of representations in this area, to improve systems and to support colleagues to secure future improvements

Content 6 The report brings together information gathered in relation to the activities involved with the receiving, handling and consideration of compliments, comments/suggestions and complaints from service users, carers and their representatives in adult social care (statutory) procedures. Representations in wider Adult and Community Services that are non-statutory are discretely reported.

7 Information for the statutory procedures includes statistical data on performance against standards, key issues arising from investigations of complaints, and their impact on policy, procedure and practice, and any lessons learned across branches. Learning from Representations

8 This report highlights a number of areas where improvements in practice have been identified and made as a result of representations. These include:
· Reducing the likelihood of a complaint by ensuring there is a proper and timely response when an initial concern is logged.
· The importance of communication between staff, service users, advocates or other representatives of the service user is recognised especially where several people are involved in handling a complaint.
· The importance of on-going training, that is informed by the lessons learnt from representations, and supervision for staff is recognised and facilitated in respect of good practice and procedures.
· Good Practice Guidance is reviewed and updated to reflect the learning points from representations received from service users and their representatives.
· Access to Advocacy is strengthened by ensuring information is available to enable people to be supported and represented through the procedures.
· Progress continues to be made in creating an organisational culture that strives to be open and fair.


Key Areas for Development

9 This report highlights a number of areas where work is currently ongoing to improve the service:

· Reviewing the roles and responsibilities of those involved with the management and operation of the Representations Procedure for Adult Social Care Services and all other services across the directorate and to develop systems and procedures for the accurate and reporting and timely management of Representations.
· To improve performance in meeting timescales, in Stages One and Two of the statutory procedures.
· To ensure the mandatory recording of ethnicity for existing clients. · To keep informed about the proposals, at national level, to reform the statutory procedures
· To develop systems of reporting for non-statutory complaints and to provide advice and support in the various branches to secure positive outcomes and the dissemination of lessons learnt.

Developments in 2007/08

10 Standards Committee are asked to note that the Department of Health will be considering the responses to the national consultation in coming months with a view to implementing change in 2009, subject to all necessary legislative requirements.

Conclusion

11 The service receives a number of representations each year. This is predictable given the nature of the services, which are provided at difficult times in people’s lives, and representations are a valuable source of feedback to inform service improvement. This Annual Report indicates positive achievements in Adult Social Care’s performance in the handling and consideration of representations, including complaints, during the year 2006/07.

Recommendation

12 Standards Committee are requested to:

Background Papers

Attachments

 Annual Report of Social Care Reps Procedure 06-07 (A&CS) Attachment.pdf