The State to manage Mums finances?

[classact72]

Re: my other thread: 'social services say I can't make a complaint'.
Since my last entry where I disclosed I had been accused of safeguarding issues I feel like I've been deserted on here and and as the saying goes 'no smoke without fire', people assume there must be some truth in it.
There's absolutely no element of truth in it and I really feel like giving up the ghost on this because whatever I seem to do to protect my mum from losing all independence and the will to live, I am up against a SW and her compatriots who will latch onto anything that can be tailored to suit the term 'issues' in a bid to have shot of me. They won't be satisfied until my mum is a total prisoner and is visited now and again by family members who won't say a dickybird.

[PeggySmith]

Oh, please don't feel like that Classact. Big hug I don't post on your thread because I don't have anything useful to add, but that doesn't mean that I think you are guilty of anything except trying to do the best for your mum.

[JPG1]

I've just posted on your other thread , classact72 - not because I know for sure how to help you, but just because I'm trying to be helpful.

[NeverGiveUp]

classact72

Take my word for it, I don't doubt you. We have been to Hell and back with SS and the hospital. If you haven't been on the receiving end of things you really don't have a clue what can happen, it is shocking.

Do i judge you classact72? Damned right I do, I'm backing anyone who stands up to the system, just watch out what the system does to you, watch your back.

[Chemmy]

We do believe you, classact. The trouble is, like Peggy says, most of us haven't been in this awful situation so don't really know how it would be best to proceed. I've had very little dealings with SS over the years, so really can't advise.

Rest assured though, you do have our support.


Is there such a thing as an ombudsman for social services? Oh look! There is..

Local Government Ombudsman.

Not sure if they cover your type of problem but they might be able to direct you to someone who would listen and advise.

[JPG1]

Is there such a thing as an ombudsman for social services? Oh look! There is..

Local Government Ombudsman.

It's not an Ombudsman for social services as such. It's the Ombudsman for all complaints about the service provided by Local Authorities.

"The Local Government Ombudsman looks at complaints about councils and some other authorities and organisations, including education admissions appeal panels and adult social care providers (such as care homes and home care providers). It is a free service. Our job is to investigate complaints in a fair and independent way - we do not take sides."

However, you can't go to the Ombudsman unless and until you've worked your way through each and every stage of the 'formal complaints' procedure. I think classact is a long way off that, at present.

"If you have a complaint, the first thing to do is complain to the council or care provider. You can find out how to complain from the council or care provider, or you can ask a councillor to help, if your complaint is against a council. In most cases, the body complained about must have a chance to sort out the complaint before we can consider it. Councils and care providers often have more than one stage in their complaints procedure. You will usually need to complete all stages before we will look at your complaint."

Then, it can take the LGO years to get to the end of your complaint, so if you want 'instant action' the LGO is not the place to go.

If you want a slow resolution to an ongoing complaitn, you can try the LGO, but again, don't hold your breath.

The LGO passes your complaint back to the department/service/persons you are complaining about - and then is only allowed to decide whether there has been some kind of 'maladministration'.

I would not recommend the LGO as the place to go to achieve a solution to the kind of problem that classact72 is dealing with.

[Chemmy]

I would not recommend the LGO as the place to go to achieve a solution to the kind of problem that classact72 is dealing with.

Fair enough. Sorry, classact

I note it mentions

Councils and care providers often have more than one stage in their complaints procedure

Any merit in getting hold of a copy of the LA's complaints procedure?

[JPG1]

Definitely merit in that one.

Whenever someone sends a letter of 'formal complaint' and it is responded to by the recipient, they should also receive a copy of the full complaints procedure leaflet which details each and every stage.

[classact72]

Thanks to all for the kind words of support.
I have a copy of the complaints procedure and followed the first step. No response other than acknowledgement but two days later a letter turns up in my mailbox from a senior practitioner that is full of allegations, accusations and threats which are obviously designed to scare the pants off of those it has been sent to. There is not an element of truth in any of it nor a shred of evidence but I don't doubt a few things will be written down now and claimed they were documented a while back. I have taken legal advice and responded asking if any of these allegations relate to me and if so I require evidence of the justification for their assertions. Not heard a thing yet but then they haven't had time to decide whether to tell me if they are actually accusing me of anything. they know they will need to be careful in doing so because they would have to come up with proof which they can't possibly have because I have done nothing untowards. The only thing they could go on is fabricated verbal claims by those who are trying to cover up their own misgivings; very doubtful that such would stand up in a court of law if legally challenged.

[classact72]

So far the replies we've had are from 8 different people!
Still not had a reply to my query about who the allegations are aimed at and if at me to come up with evidence or an apology if not. It's all falsehoods and they are either worried to death about making such accusations that were designed to frighten the pants off those of us who are challenging unethical behaviour or they are plotting some concocted story.
I've written again and asked to clarify who they are referring to and nothing. Basically they are ignoring my complaint!
My sister asked the same question, got fed up with no response so sent it again to complaints dept and has just got an email back stating the person she sent it to and head of service are looking into both hers' and my complaint.
Should they be disclosing to my sister that I've made a complaint? What happened to confidentiality? Secondly, the person she complained to was the head of service so how can there be two?
I've also looked at mum's care plan and couldn't believe what was written in there!
A member of staff had recorded that family members ask for cups of tea, quote: 'even when we are busy'. I was fuming about this. Not only because in the brochure I read something along the lines of : 'families of residents will find xxxxx is like home from home'. Apart from that, most of the time a particular carer has offered us tea and brought in biscuits too. Only once have I ever asked for a drink and that was when refreshments were being made for the residents. Besides that, couldn't the staff speak up and say ' sorry we are busy?'
Another example was when my sister asked a carer whether they thought the industrial soap powder commonly used in care homes could possibly be making Mum's eczema worse. What was recorded is that my sister accused the home of making Mum's legs worse by using industrial soap powder.
Adding to that, the records were not chronological; evident that some of the recording had certainly been added at a much later date.
I have since spoken to the care home manager about the pettiness of her staff and whether these comments should be in her care plan. A week later and the notes have been re-written, are now chronological but include a typed letter to the SW stating my sister had referred to the residents as 'demented'. My sister works would not use such terminology and certainly not to her detriment when she is a carer herself.
What on earth is SS and the care home playing at? Apart from us being distressed at nearly losing our Mum on two occasions and trying to come to terms with her dementia, we have all this to contend with!
There are thoughts about going to the media with the whole story!

[Eddgreen]

I had a financal assessment for mum this week
My mums and my wellbeing. No comment from him
He was there there to take every penny from mum
Had he has
They want 2yrs bank statments
Bank wants £5 for this
He seemed diss appointed not to get the house
It's mine he wanted all the paperwork on that also
They come with a mission to get every penny and th800Dey have
I found it stressful

[NeverGiveUp]

Eddgreen

Did it leave you with a feeling of disbelief? Maybe asking yourself, why?

We felt as though we had been physically molested, wanted to wash and clean our home after several of the SW spoke to us about financial assessments. There is something unclean about the process, it seems to us that some who are entrusted with this task go beyond what is needed.

There is a feeling of being suspected of being a criminal when in fact we were only acting in a selfless way. We still wonder why we were treated in a way that made us feel criminals, we didn't want anything except information.

[Justice2012]

classact72

Having read your post I want you to know that in my researches I have noted that there are many others who have had similar experiences to you with SW's and their departments. A common element seems to be that it is those who complain or have any dispute regarding the 'care' of their loved one that seems to trigger an attitude towards us bordering on the dangerous to us and our loved one.



Mental Capacity Assessments for more substantial issues are best done by a geriatrician or psychogeriatrician- not by a social worker and I would advise if you can you seek this, although your mother being in a care home makes this complicated unless you can afford private fees.

I have made formal complaints twice now to SS. I can assure you that they will make up a story about you twisting everything that they have on and off record to make you the one at fault- putting a false safeguarding issue onto you is quite normal because they can do this to get 'control'. They NEVER NEVER admit that they have done anything wrong- a social work lawyer told me that as an organisation the local authority will not admit to fault with the obvious legal implications to them. You will never see an apology.

I also would not advise the Ombudsman as my experience is that in your situation they will entirely take what the SS officers say as the gospel truth, your evidence is effectively ignored. Even when you can show SW's have lied, as I was able to evidence, they do not criticise the decisions of SWs- although they noted maladministration because it was clear the SW's had no idea what they should do or why. There have been recent public severe criticisms of the biased work of the Government Ombudsman- I would not suggest anyone bother, it is emotionally soul destroying as well as time consuming for no result.

What I am disappointed in is that organisation like Alzheimer's / Age Concern/ Carers UK are not picking up a trend now picked up by journalists about how SWs do worrying safeguarding work on no evidence of actual harm in cases of child protection- with families being destroyed. The parallel is happening in adult care to carers. The most public case was the Steven Neary vs Hillingdon Council, he was lucky he got his son back against all odds from SS- but it seems their attitude has worsened towards him. Supporting carers? I do not think so.

It is time to think about a class legal action by carers challenging harmful safeguarding work because more and more find themselves at the end of retaliatory and false accusations when in dispute or raising alarm about care services with SS or NHS. But where are the organisations who would be ready to take this on with some research?

Anyone who thinks 'there is no smoke without a fire' clearly does not accept miscarriages of justice occur. In the case of safeguarding of adults nearly 2/3 are unsubstantiated or undetermined. This is not safeguarding anyone. The real perpetrators, such as in Winterborne, go unoticed save for the BBC's intervention.

[NeverGiveUp]

Hear, hear, Justice 2012.

The problem with being an innocent party is not knowing how to defend yourself because you don't know what the accusations are all about.

Anyone who hasn't been in this situation would never understand that these happenings could be possible. When it does happen, the feeling is like the sky falling on your head, all of the stresses that you are dealing with everyday pale into insignificance. My dad and i were erroneously accused of a safeguarding offence, not only did we have to fight it all the way on our own but no-one would admit to how the injuries had happened. Any safeguarding accusations apparently stay on file forever. When mum was injured in a situation where it was vey clear that an outside party could not be blamed, the enquiry was held without informing us that it was taking place (we had been told that we would be fully informed), without my evidence and we were not even told that it had been concluded. To add insult to injury, when I did start to make enquiries about why things were taking so long, I got a letter which gave me the feeling that i was deemed a liar, I am most certainly not, if I had been given the opportunity to present my evidence then they would have had name, dates and incidents.

We are now terrified that we will have to go near the hospital again where it all happened.

[NeverGiveUp]

I hope the moderators leave your posts insitu as you have said very many true things here, there is a serious worry which you have highlighted.

I would suspect that very many people would be shocked at the contents of their files, even if it was just on accuracy/spelling. I got the first hint of something amiss by being told something out of the blue by a shocked person who found something unethical, I have never found where this is recorded, the person had obviously been to a meeting somewhere, he put his career on the line by telling me.

When another, very good, professional changed her attitude to me totally, i obtained notes and found a letter included, i cried when i saw what was written, i would hazard a guess that was the reason the person stopped being so helpful. I made a complaint, got a verbal unreserved apology from the manager who blamed his older members of staff as not properly trained , got more notes, the apology wasn't recorded.

So many things have happened to us, either we are seriously horrible people/totally over imaginative or there is something wrong and other people have things written about them which could influence future input by professionals.

Life as a carer is tough and soul destroying enough without having to deal with all of this additional stuff.