Mrs A complained that Vale of Glamorgan Council had failed to meet the identified social care needs of her daughter, B. She also complained that the Council had failed to implement recommendations contained in an independent investigation completed under Stage 2 of the Social Services Complaints Procedure (Wales) Regulations 2014.
In response to the Ombudsman’s investigation, the Council proposed a settlement to resolve Mrs A’s complaint.
Following discussions with the Ombudsman, the Council agreed to, within 3 months, arrange for a new assessment of B’s needs and to confirm with the staff involved that it had accepted specific findings of the Stage 2 investigation. It also agreed to share with relevant social services teams that it has the power to arrange direct payments to fund support where there may be an expectation for carers to administer emergency medication, and that this may be facilitated by arranging appropriate training and insurance. Finally, the Council agreed to update its Direct Payments Policy within 3 months to clarify that the exclusion of health-related services from the kinds of support it can provide does not apply when those services are “incidental or ancillary” (provided alongside or in support of another action) to doing something else to meet a citizen’s needs.
The Ombudsman discontinued the investigation on the basis that the above actions were reasonable to resolve Mrs A’s complaint.