Agenda item

Purpose of the item: To provide a detailed summary of complaints, Ombudsman investigations and compliments in Adult Social Care for the period October 2021 – March 2022.

Witnesses:

Sinead Mooney – Cabinet Member for Adults and Health

Liz Bruce – Joint Executive Director for Adult Social Care and Integrated Commissioning (Surrey County Council and Surrey Heartlands ICS)

Liz Uliasz – Deputy Director for Adult Social Care

Kathryn Pyper – Senior Programme Manager (ASC)

Clare Burgess – CEO of Surrey Coalition of Disabled People

Maria Millwood – Board Director (Healthwatch Surrey)

Key points raised during the discussion:

1.  A Member asked whether there was any explanation as to why the number of complaints were higher in north-west Surrey and Surrey Heath. The Deputy Director explained that they had merged into one area now creating a large patch with higher caseloads. The staff were now better at managing complaints, due to a cultural shift around learning from them. 

2.  A Member queried whether the officers were satisfied that it was easy to complain. The Deputy Director responded that they were satisfied. They had been working with staff to encourage people to complain and reassuring residents who had doubts about complaining. The website was accessible, and the Council had been using GPs to help to encourage people to complain as well. The Member queried the publicity of learnings from complaints. The Deputy Director explained that in the Council’s response to a complaint, they shared what they have done differently as a result of the complaint and an annual report was published with learnings from complaints. The Joint Executive Director added that as of May 2022, there were over 20,000 cases open on the system. This was positive as it illustrated the engagement of service users.

3.  The CEO of Surrey Coalition of Disabled People asked about the involvement of people with lived experiences in the learning space training. The Senior Programme Manager responded that they would welcome that.

4.  The Board Director welcomed the section of the report on equality, diversity and inclusion. Healthwatch Surrey met with ASC on a quarterly basis to provide them with user feedback. Healthwatch had undertaken a piece of work on care within the home, through the Giving Carers a Voice contract. 

5.  A Member asked about plans for more in-depth complaints training for front-line staff. The Deputy Director explained that complaints training was offered, and staff were expected to attend it. Staff had mandatory training related to their job role which would be monitored by their line manager. The Senior Programme Manager explained that the learning space training consisted of monthly 60-minute sessions, with each session looking at a specific theme. The Cabinet Member added that the section on Ombudsman complaints was the most challenging to read but it was important to learn from those case studies.  

6.  In response to a question on preventing complaints from going to the Ombudsman, the Deputy Director explained that sometimes complaints needed to go to the Ombudsman for an objective view. However, early resolution and talking to residents helped to stop the complaint process at the beginning. 

7.  A Member asked about the involvement of other agencies in the complaints process. The Deputy Director responded that the relevant agency would always be contacted if they were included in a complaint and a joint response would be produced.  

8.  The Chairman asked about the progress regarding the Council’s customer relationship management (CRM) system. The Deputy Director explained that they had a CRM system which would be replaced over the next few years. There were plans to develop the digital front door to record issues of concerns more effectively. The Joint Executive Director has reached out to the Executive Director of Customer and Communities to look into this. The Chairman stressed the need to have issues of concern flagged up on the new system.

Recommendations: 

The Adults and Health Select Committee recommends:

1.    That a thorough review is undertaken by Adult Social Care Leads at Surrey County Council, with the assistance of relevant corporate system providers, of the current CRM system in place to make it as user-friendly as possible, and to harness all the functions within the CRM system.

2.    For Adult Social Care Leads at Surrey County Council to review what is being considered, and the parameters being used, in the process of acquiring a new CRM system.

3.    That a follow-up informal session is held to address/investigate how Issues of Concern are recorded and dealt with, as opposed to formal complaints. 

4.    For Adult Social Care Leads at Surrey County Council to look into investigating training available from the Ombudsman to learn from cases upheld.

Ernest Mallet left the meeting at 12:33pm.

The meeting paused at 12:33pm and reconvened at 1pm.