Issue - meetings

Adult Social Care has a statutory responsibility to produce an annual report on complaints received, issues that have been raised and any action that has been taken to improve services. Adult Social Care encourages feedback from a range of sources including complaints, compliments, comments, surveys, consultations and engagement to improve services.

This report provides a summary of feedback and learning for BCP Council Adult Social Care from 1st April 2019 to 31st March 2020.

The Committee were presented with the first Adult Social Care annual report on customer opinion and learning for BCP Council by the Head of Strategic Planning and Quality Assurance.

Members heard that the service area had been working together to deliver appropriate responses to complaints across BCP and that the total number of complaints for BCP Council Adult Social Care was lower than the combined figure from the legacy Councils, at 178. Furthermore, 99% of the complaints received had been acknowledged despite some slight delays in speed of response caused by the COVID19 pandemic. There were 13 complaints considered by the Ombudsman in 2019/2020.

The Committee were informed of the main complaint themes these were: communications and response times, financial assessments and charges/fees, and professional practice. These themes are similar to previous years and generally concern managing the users’ expectations.

Members heard that the service had identified several learning improvement areas and had developed/provided online training to 28 members of staff. Training for teams with ‘hotspots’ of complaints would also be developed in a more bespoke way in order to better respond to users.

The Committee heard that the service had received 275 compliments and messages of thanks in 2019/2020.

Members were told that the NHS Digital ASC users survey had been undertaken, with 631 responses from 700. The survey highlighted some areas for improvement, particularly around information and advice and user satisfaction. Action plans are being put in place to look at how we can improve related services and in turn the

measures, around these two areas.

A question was asked on training, with reference to the 28 members of staff who had been trained. The Committee heard that the service area employed 4000 members of staff, and that training was hoped to be rolled out more widely across the service area, with the possibility of it being made mandatory.

A point was made on social contact rates from the January survey and the Committee heard that the figure was positive when compared nationally. The hope was that as community based support improved over time, the figure would increase and social contact rates would improve. The Committee were informed that very few users identified as receiving no social contact at all.

A Member referred to the ‘ease to find services’ rate and was informed that engagement with individuals who are dissatisfied was to be prioritised in order to learn from users and work with providers to improve this. Furthermore, the Front Door Programme, as it develops, would make information clearer and more appropriate in order to better answer users’ questions in a timelier manner.

RESOLVED that:-

(a) The information contained in the report and appendices be noted.

(b) Any actions or issues relevant for the Committee’s Forward Plan be considered.