An island mother is still waiting for social workers to do an assessment of her daughter’s needs – nearly a year and a half after asking for it.
Morag Smith, who also looks after elderly parents, is appalled that despite an informal complaint to their boss in January – and a formal complaint recently – there has still been no attempt to assess her adult daughter who has learning difficulties.
When the assessment is done, she has been told to expect at least two carers to help her but she is still wondering when that will ever happen.
Still waiting – Morag Smith
Morag, of Stornoway, also complained that no one from the social work department at Western Isles Council was returning her phone calls. Her complaint was thrown out – because records of the calls could not be found – even though the investigator found the department had no system for recording or forwarding messages from the public.
She has been assured that a new complaints procedure and ways of dealing with messages have now been adopted.
The senior social worker looking into it reported: “…I acknowledge there have been significant gaps in case management and care planning between mid-2011 to early-2012. This has meant that there have been delays in the provision of a care package. This complaint is therefore upheld.”
Despite the finding, Morag, who has worked in social work herself, says the unexplained failures and delays are continuing. At a meeting with the team leader last month, she was assured she would be contacted the following week with details of a further appointment.
“I’m still waiting for that call,” she said, despondently.
Morag has discovered it is not unusual for people to have to wait six months to get a needs assessment from the islands’ social work department but has heard of no one who has had to wait as long as she has.
“The workings of the Community Care Team are a disgrace, dealing as they do with a vulnerable group such as this. If a professional with a knowledge of the system such as myself has these kinds of problems, what hope is there for a carer or person with learning difficulties without such knowledge?” she said.
The investigator’s report concluded he was aware the department was currently working with her and her daughter and he trusted that the service would address her assessed eligible needs.
Morag responded: “The problem is they are not working with us. Sixteen months later, we are still waiting for something to be done.”
She has been told her daughter should qualify for 24.5 hours each of week of additional support but because the assessment has not been done nothing has happened. It should mean up to £300 per week to employ at least two part-time carers putting money back into the local economy and freeing up Morag for her other care responsibilities.
The damning finding by the investigator that the social work department had no system for recording and forwarding messages is thought by some to be evidence of a meltdown in the department where, according to the report, there has been a high absence rate “due to a combination of front line staff illness and management changes and vacant positions …”.
Morag was horrified when she was told the full results of the probe may not be made available to her and that she may have to resort to the Freedom of Information Act to get the full findings of her own complaint.
She said: “I have brought that up with my councillor, Angus Campbell, the council leader, who agreed that would be “ridiculous” if I was forced to do that.”
Councillor Campbell has pledged to do what he can to help Ms Smith and her daughter.
Morag Smith has now asked social work director Iain Macaulay why, if new and improved procedures are really in place, there has been no amendment to the council website, whether anyone has been disciplined for the failures and for a full copy of the investigating officer’s report.
A council spokesman couldn’t comment on individual cases but said that requests for assessment were a key part of social work service and a combination of staff absences and vacancies impacted on service responses.
“In a relatively small staff team this presents significant challenges to service delivery. The department currently has two service manager vacancies which we have been unable to recruit. Additionally, the council has recruited two locum social workers for a year to address front line staff absences and this, together with the return to work of some of the permanent staff, will address and improve assessment and care management service delivery,” he said.
“Any suggestion of telephone calls not being returned is clearly a matter of concern. With this in mind the department is implementing an audit and review to ensure communication systems are reliable and robust.”
Social work director Iain Macaulay was said to have been in touch with Morag since then and would be sending her “all relevant paperwork”.
The spokesman confirmed that Morag would not have to resort to FoI legislation to get the findings about her own complaint.
A local councillor expressed surprise at the case and commented that neither he nor his colleagues had been made aware by officials of the now-obvious crisis in the social work department.
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