Anyone made a successful CSCI complaint - residential care home for adults with LD?

[justchilli]

We have a relative who's had a traumatic time in a care home. He has severe learning disabilities and is very vulnerable. No language. We have been trying to work with the staff for > 2 years in highlighting problems and seeking ways to resolve them. No progress - just lots of soothing words. However it's got a lot worse in the last 9 months and he ended up in hospital with a medical condition - unsure if he would make it through the night. Social worker has withdrawn him. We're focused on finding alterative care at the moment but debating whether to go to CSCI. Feel he's owed recognition of what's been through and also want to try and stop it happening to anyone else.

Should we bother and waste more emotional energy? - it's had v damaging consequences already on the extended family.
What's a good strategy?
What external help should we get?

Thanks!

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well i think CSCI is your first port of call

they are meant to visit and rate care homes etc

I would give them a call and see what they say

additionally someone like CAB may be able to signpost you

MENCAP may be good - they are a campaigning chairty for people with learning disabilities

i am sorry that your relative has been thorugh this

i ahev looked on their website - have you looked at the report for the care home your relative was in?

i would get in touch with them

If you raise your concerns with CSCI they will look into the issues you raise and may do an unannounced inspection of the home - so it's definitely worth contacting them.

But it's outside CSCI's remit to investigate complaints about an individual person's care - they don't have the legal power to do this. You could try the Local Government Ombudsman if your relative's care is funded by the local council.

Second the advice to get in touch with Mencap - they have been supporting families and people with LD who have been mistreated in NHS/social care/community services. (Don't panic but the relevant campaign is called Death by Indifference because some people have died as a result of being neglected.)

Thanks everyone.

The CSCI reports are very bland - get the feeling it's easy to pull the wool. I've talked to CAB and they said to ensure we had a written log of everything which has gone on.

The MENCAP report is very close to home- he ended in the emergency medical dept at the hospital. .

I've not heard of the Local Government Ombudsman - will dig around.

Was this placement funded and arranged by social services? If so, I would make a complaint to them as well. They need to be aware that they are placing vulnerable people in unacceptable care homes. They have processes to deal with these situations, and you shouldnt have to battle the system on your own.

Yes Unavailable. The social worker knows all about it. We're focusing on working with SW to find alternative care at the moment.

Don't want to drop SW in it - their dept have been very supportive so we'll want to do anything with their advice probably.

I'd just appreciate words of advice from you guys on whether it's worth the emotional energy of doing anything, and if so what's the best way of tackling it.

It may well take lots of emotional energy. You have to weigh that up v. the satisfaction of getting some form of 'justice' for your relative and protecting anyone else from being treated the same way.

Would strongly advise you to talk to Mencap before you decide what to do - they will help you decide how to move on, whether that means complaining or focusing on what happens to your relative next (and helping to make sure any future placements are safe).

Please contact CSCI, your input is important and they do listen, do you have copies of the past care plans and any minutes from any meetings you may have had, that can support concerns that have beeen raised?. Has the SW really done a good job? who funds the care, do they have other clients still there in similar curcumstances? Could they have pulled him out before?. A SW should act before crisis really and from experiance can be very sympathetic after an issue arises.
I worked for 14yrs in Ld/Mh residential care, six years with profoundly disabled people normally non verbal, I also had a brother with severe cp so am very passionate on raising care home standards, too often family do not complain officially especially if they feel it will inhibit the relocation of a loved one, yet the homes I worked in encouraged active family support, I hope the resettlement goes well there are some great homes out there as well as the bad.

Thanks again all.

I've now spoken to Mencap who have put me in touch with the Disability Law Service. I've an appt booked for talk with them later this week.

Mencap urged me to think about complaining in order to help those still there and who might go there.

I've been onto the CSCI website again and made notes against their National Minimum Standards with examples of when I think the home didn't meet them. That was cathartic in itself .

We have loads of minutes from meetings with them - which they produced - which support our concerns. In our view anyway.

Will keep you posted...

watching this thread closely

I did raise a concern with csci in september and have so far had no response (other than to say email received)
I felt like all I ever did was moan and find fault in her care (because I felt guilty that I wasn't looking after her.)
Since I emailed csci about a single matter I was "tipped off" by two concerned people (who were in contact with dd through their work with adults with sld) about neglectful treatment of my dd. A social services safeguarding meeting was held with 24 hours notice and she was removed
She is now in a brilliant home.
I have rung csci today actually to get some answers as to why they did not reply to my email or subsequent calls.
What bothers me deeeply is that as a parent it feels wholly innapropriate to hand over your child (regardless that she is grown up)and then upset her care givers by complaining about lack of care.....I worried so much that she would suffer and relied heavily on the word of the area manager for the care home group and social services to work to get it right and better.
I will never forgive myself for letting it roll on as long as it did.

just realised that makes no sense at all.
In brief.....
I was never happy with the standard of care.
I complained quietly and politely but never in writing.
SS always took my concerns seriousely and were quietly looking for somewhere to move her to (nearer home)
An incident happened. I had no choice but to inform csci
Then
Over xmas (whilst dd was with us) we received a call from a proffesional claiming to have a list of concerns about our dd's welfare. She gave us the contact details of someone else who had concerns.
We refused to let dd return.
SS held a meeting and they agreed she must not return.
csci have still never responded to my initial complaint.
As far as I know this home and the staff are still operational

Hi Pellmell
So sorry to hear about your dd. It's bad enough for the siblings to see this happening but crushing for the parents. Do hope things continue to go well in the new home.

Sounds familiar - our care home was part of a big group. We tried to work with the care home for ages, getting continually frustrated, but afraid that if we pushed too hard our relative would be the worse off. We were forced to start getting tougher and he ended up very ill in hospital. You're damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

I spoke to the Disability Law service and gathered CSCI have a reputation for being a bit toothless, so not sure I'll bother complaining in our case - at least not with any expectation of change. They gave me contacts for solicitors who deal with Neglect and Personal Injury but that feels like a huge step. We need to find a new home first.

We've learnt lots of lessons and just hope we can avoid it happening again.

I'm afraid whenever I see a young child with the same LD condition as our relly my heart just sinks - who will look out for them when their parents no longer can?

On that happy note ...

PS Pellmell - do you know what happened to your whistle blower?

the whistleblowers were an ex (senior) member of staff who left to remove herself from bad practice and a proffesional who worked in a completely different capacity but had regular contact with my dd (and her supposed carers)
They both listed concerns that confirmed the uneasiness I felt was founded....things that the staff tried hard to gloss over were actually more serious than I had feared.

Dd who has serious physical and mental disability, virtually no speech, severe challenging behavior etc became ill at a theatre production one night in November. She was placed on a public Taxi in the middle of a huge city and returned to her care home on her own.
I had no idea