Ombudsman criticises lack of joined-up thinking after man with dementia left in unsuitable hotel accommodation for “too long”

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found that a Calderdale man was left in unsuitable hotel accommodation for “too long”, because council departments did not work together.

Calderdale Council has agreed to pay £750 to the man’s sister, Ms Y, to apologise for the “significant distress” she experienced.

Ms Y complained that the council failed to arrange the necessary support to help meet her brother’s social care and housing needs.

As a result, she told the Ombudsman that his health and wellbeing “rapidly deteriorated”, and he was eventually detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983.

The man, who had a rapidly-progressing form of dementia, became homeless in October 2021. The council placed him in temporary hotel accommodation while it decided what could be done for him.

However, instead of working together in the man’s best interests, both the housing and adult social care departments decided they could not act until the other had done so, the Ombudsman's report noted.

“This lack of joined-up thinking left a vulnerable man without the social care support he needed in unsuitable accommodation for too long.

“The man’s placement in unsuitable temporary accommodation also played a part in his inability to access much-needed community health services to medicate his dementia”, said the Ombudsman.

The man was eventually sectioned under the Mental Health Act, and later passed away in hospital.

The Ombudsman investigated and concluded that the council did not:

• follow up on his capacity assessment and make a ‘best interests’ decision for him
• offer advocacy support to the man
• include the man’s sister in its meetings or decision-making about the man’s situation
• finalise a Care Act assessment

To remedy the injustice caused, the council was recommended to apologise and pay £750 to the man’s sister for the “significant distress” she experienced.

Paul Najsarek, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: “In this case Calderdale Council showed a clear lack of initiative when trying to help this man – the housing service decided it could not act until a social care assessment had taken place, while the social care department said it could not act until the man was in appropriate housing.

“This meant the man was left in unsuitable accommodation for far too long, with no social support and officers relying on the goodwill of untrained hotel staff to keep tabs on him.

“To its credit, the council has readily accepted our report’s findings and has agreed a host of measures to ensure this situation cannot happen again.”

Cllr Josh Fenton-Glynn, Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Adult Services and Wellbeing, said: “We made mistakes which we sincerely regret. We are deeply sorry for the significant distress and impacts caused for both the complainant and her late brother, and we have sent her a formal apology.

“We are already taking proactive steps to make sure these mistakes don’t happen again and to implement the Ombudsman’s recommendations. 

“We take our adult social care and housing support responsibilities very seriously, and will use the lessons learned in this case to improve the way we protect vulnerable people in future."

Cllr Fenton-Glynn added: “We accept that the service we provided in this case didn’t meet our high standards, and that our communication with the complainant, and between our housing and adult social care services, should have been better.

“We have delivered some new training, and more is planned, to ensure staff in each service area work together effectively to meet people’s social care and housing needs. We have done a full audit of the case to learn from it and to inform further training for staff, and we have implemented new internal procedures and guidance.”

Lottie Winson