Overview
The complainant (Mr C) complained about the level of care he and his family received from Ayrshire and Arran NHS Board (the Board). Mr C explained that his seven-year-old son (Child C) has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and that he also has three other children aged five, three and two. Mr C said that the Board had failed to provide a programme of intervention to meet Child C's needs and that this had caused considerable distress for Child C and his family because of the effects of Child C's disability. Mr C considered that, in addition to the Board's own obligations towards Mr C and his family, it was incumbent on the Board to provide appropriate care to address Mr C and his family's deteriorating health, resulting from what he described as North Ayrshire Council (the Council)'s failure to fulfil their duties towards him and his family. Mr C subsequently complained to the Ombudsman's office about the level of service he and his family received from the Council. He said that the Council's social work services had failed to properly assess the needs of Mr C and his family and provide the appropriate support. Mr C advised that the Council had allocated a number of hours support for Child C and had agreed that, as Mr C had been unable to identify a suitable provider of this support, any unused hours could be 'banked', or carried over from one financial year to the next. Mr C said the Council then went back on this decision and that his son lost all his 'banked hours'. Mr C also raised a number of specific complaints about the Council's social work and education services.
Specific complaints and conclusions
The complaints against the Board which have been investigated are that during the period May 2006 to September 2007:
- (a) the Board failed to provide appropriate care to address Mr C and his family's deteriorating health, resulting from the Council's alleged failure to fulfil their duties towards Mr C and his family (not upheld);
- (b) the Board failed to put in place a programme of intervention to meet Child C's needs (not upheld); and
- (c) the Board failed to provide proper care to alleviate the distress caused to Mr C and his family from the effects of his son's disability (not upheld).
The complaints against the Council which have been investigated are that:
- (d) from March 2005 to May 2008, the Council failed to properly assess Mr C and his family's needs for support from social work services and subsequently provide this support, in accordance with procedure (not upheld);
- (e) the Council failed to inform Mr C that from 6 April 2008 Child C would lose his right to all his 'banked hours' (upheld); and
- (f) the Council failed to allocate Child C a new social worker, after the previous one left in December 2007 (not upheld).
Redress and recommendations
The Ombudsman recommends that the Council
- (i) re-instate Child C's unused hours of support for the period 25 October 2005 to 25 April 2008; and
- (ii) take note of both the Ombudsman's Mental Health Adviser (Adviser 1)'s and the Ombudsman's Psychiatric Adviser's comments on multi-agency working in this case, and seek to implement Adviser 1's suggestions at paragraph 128, in particular, the suggestion that stakeholders 'regroup' to re-establish and commit to effective future collaborative working arrangements, including a set of principles upon which future care should be based.
The Ombudsman recommends that the Board take note of both the Ombudsman's Mental Health Adviser (Adviser 1)'s and the Ombudsman's Psychiatric Adviser's comments on multi-agency working in this case, and seek to implement Adviser 1's suggestions at paragraph 128, in particular, the suggestion that stakeholders 'regroup' to re-establish and commit to effective future collaborative working arrangements, including a set of principles upon which future care should be based.
The Board and the Council have accepted the recommendations and will act on them accordingly.