Meeting documents

1 THE ISSUE

1.1 This is a statutory report informing the Cabinet of a recent finding by the Local Government Ombudsman of maladministration causing injustice by the Council, in the area of Mental Health Services. The Cabinet must consider the report and then produce a report of its own which must be circulated to each member of the Council.

2 RECOMMENDATION

That the Cabinet:

2.1 Endorses the actions being taken as described in this report and

2.2 Instructs the Monitoring Officer to prepare on its behalf a draft report to issue to all members of Council.

3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

3.1 In accordance with Section 30 of the Local Government Act 1974, the Council has placed a public notice in two local newspapers confirming that a report has been issued by the Local Government Ombudsman and advising the public where copies of the report were available for inspection. The cost of the notices was £495.23 plus VAT. This payment will be met from existing Social Services budgets.

3.2 A payment of £250.00 has been paid to the individual's family by way of compensation. This payments has been met from existing Social Services' budgets.

3.3 A review of another 10 cases is being undertaken and this may result in refunds of care home fees to some or all of the individuals.

4 COMMUNITY STRATEGY OUTCOMES

Not applicable.

5 CORPORATE IMPROVEMENT PRIORITIES

6 CPA KEY LINES OF ENQUIRY

Not applicable.

7 THE REPORT

Statutory position

7.1 This is a statutory report which as, the Council's Monitoring Officer, I am required to prepare for consideration by the Cabinet. A copy of this report has been sent to each member of the Council in accordance with the statutory requirements.

7.2 As soon as practicable after the Cabinet has completed its consideration of this report, it must prepare a report of its own which specifies what action (if any) it has taken or proposes to take in response to it (and when) and also give the reasons for taking that action, or as the case may be, for taking no action. That report must then be sent to each member of the Council and to me. The Local Government Ombudsman must be notified of the action taken or proposed to be taken in response to his report within three months of its issue i.e. before 14 March 2008, in this case.

The complaint

7.3 The background to and facts of this case and the Local Government Ombudsman's findings are set out in his report which is appended to this report. Briefly, it concerns decisions made by the Council in respect of an individual who was discharged from hospital following a period of detention under section 3 of the Mental Health Act 1983. The Council initially funded her aftercare in a residential care home under section 117 of the Act but following a review of her case in February 2006 decided that she no longer needed aftercare and could be discharged from aftercare under section 117. The effect of this decision was that her future residential care costs would not be met by the Council. However, despite its decision to discharge the individual in this case the Council continued to meet the costs of her residential care whilst the complaint was investigated and she did not therefore suffer a financial loss.

7.4 The Ombudsman found that the Council's criteria for discharging individuals from aftercare were seriously flawed because they took into account an irrelevant consideration, namely whether or not the individual was settled in a nursing or residential home, and therefore the decision in this case was unsafe.

7.5 The Ombudsman found that there had been maladministration causing injustice to the individual concerned. He also noted that the Council has applied its discharge criteria to a number of other cases, 10 of which have not been reviewed. He considered that the Council should further investigate these cases to ensure that no maladministration has occurred, if necessary, by involving a suitable independent person to assist its evaluation of these cases.

Action taken by the Council

7.6 As a result of this case and other concerns about the current section 117 discharge policy, a review of the policy was commenced by the Group Manager (Mental Health) before receipt of the Ombudsman's report. Counsel was asked to produce discharge guidance/criteria and the Group Manager has held meetings with practitioners to consider this guidance/criteria. Officers in the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust and the Bath and North East Somerset Primary Care Trust are also involved in the review because the policy is a jointly agreed policy with both those bodies. (As explained in paragraph 5 of the Ombudsman's report, section 117 imposes a duty on Local Health Authorities and Social Services Authorities to provide aftercare services for people who have previously been detained in hospital under section 3 of the Mental Health Act 1983 and Health Authorities and Social Services Authorities are expected to establish jointly agreed policies on providing aftercare services). It is anticipated that the review will be completed by the end of February 2008, following which, a revised policy will be adopted by the relevant authorities.

7.7 In the meantime, arrangements have been made for all cases involving the possible discharge of individuals from section 117 aftercare to be referred to the Group Manager to ensure that irrelevant considerations are not taken into account.

7.8 A review of the 10 cases referred to in paragraph 22 of the Ombudsman's report is underway within the Adult Social Services and Housing Division. It is anticipated that this review will be completed by the end of March 2008. If it is concluded that maladministration has occurred in any of the 10 cases, refunds of payments made by or on behalf of the relevant individuals and/or compensation payments may by made by the Council.

7.9 The Cabinet may wish to consider, as part of its response, asking for a report from the Strategic Director Adult Social Services and Housing following completion of the reviews.

8 RISK MANAGEMENT

Not applicable.

9 RATIONALE

Not applicable.

10 OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED

Not applicable.

11 CONSULTATION

11.1 The Chief Executive and the Section 151 Officer have been consulted in connection with the preparation of this report in accordance with the statutory requirements, as has the Strategic Director and relevant officers in her Directorate.

12 ISSUES TO CONSIDER IN REACHING THE DECISION

12.1 These are set out in Section 7 of this report.

13 ADVICE SOUGHT

13.1 The Council's Head of Paid Service (Chief Executive) and Section 151 Officer (Assistant Director - Support Services), have had the opportunity to input to this report and have cleared it for publication.