In this month’s edition of the Ombudsman’s findings, we discuss the impact of our recommendations.
This month we published decision reports from 20 complaints. Eighteen were about health services, one about local government and one about prisons. The outcome of these 20 complaints were
- Fully upheld: 15
- Some upheld: 3
- Not upheld: 2
We made 68 recommendations for learning and improvement.
Recommendations
The Ombudsman can investigate complaints about public services when something has gone wrong, such as:
- A service not being provided properly.
- A service that should have been provided was not.
- An organisation that acted unfairly or made mistakes in how it handled something.
Put simply, we can check how a decision was made—making sure the correct process was followed. If the decision itself was made properly, we cannot challenge it (except in cases about the NHS or social work).
However, even if we cannot overturn a decision, we can still provide individual remedies for complainants.
In one case, we asked the Scottish Prison Service to reconsider a prisoner’s lost property claim. We found that their assessment of the lost property claim was unclear and took a significant amount of time to complete.
In another case, we asked a council to refund the administration fee of communal repairs at a tenement in which the complainant owned a property. While the complainant was liable for the work, we found that the council failed to follow their own processes and relevant legislation.
As well as outcomes for the complainant, we can recommend improvements, and ensure organisations learn from complaints. Our work helps to drive positive change, prevent future issues, and make sure people are treated fairly.