FOR NURSING AND RESIDENTIAL CARE HOMES
W W W. T H E C A R E R U K . C O M
THECARERUK
THECARERUK
THECARER_UK
Issue 211
“Signpost” Complaints Process, Social Care Ombudsman Urges
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has reiterated its call for care providers to be required to tell people about its service, after highlighting the relatively small number of cases it deals with in the independent sector. In its Annual Review of Adult Social Care Complaints 2023-24, the number of complaints about privately funded and arranged care fell by 15%, following a continued trend over the past few years. This number, the Ombudsman says, is far lower than it would expect given the sector’s proportion of the care market. Over the past year, the Ombudsman
received 2,982 complaints about adult care, with just 333 of those being from people who fund their own care. In order to bridge the gap between the number of people in receipt of care in the independent sector, and the low volume of complaints, the Ombudsman is calling for signposting to its services to be made mandatory at the end of every provider’s complaint process.
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