LGO given power to handle social care complaints

Self-funders of social care are to have a new avenue of redress after legislation was passed giving them access to an independent complaints review service run by the Local Government Ombudsman.

The LGO was given the additional role after the Health Act 2009 received Royal Assent. The service will be made available from October 2010.

Once the Care Quality Commission completes its new registration programme of providers, the LGO will be able to review complaints about privately purchased care services made by users, their family or others affected by the actions of a regulated adult care provider.

Tony Redmond, the Ombudsman, said: “At present, under a private care arrangement, people have no redress for anything that has gone wrong except by using their provider’s own complaints procedure, or going to court.

“This compares unfavourably with people whose care is funded or arranged by a local authority – they have access to a statutory complaints procedure and to the LGO if dissatisfied with the outcome. We will be able to correct this through our new service.”

The LGO acknowledged that the diversity of the independent care sector, and the complexity of its relationships with regulators and service commissioners, will demand a very different approach.

“We welcome the views of providers and their associations in developing the new service and also the input of organisations who support and represent users of adult social care services, their relatives, or carers,” Redmond said.

Good practice in complaint handling within the sector will be highlighted through a range of training and support materials. The LGO added that it will identify any general learning from the cases it receives that may help to improve services more widely.