Sheffield Council fined 27,000 for failure in Adult Social Care

[gamezone07 23]

from the Sheffield Star

 

Sheffield double amputee awarded £27,000 after failure in care

 

 

A vulnerable double amputee has spoken of her ‘nightmare’ after she was wrongly denied the right care for more than a year by Sheffield authorities.

 

Sheffield Council and Sheffield Health and Sheffield Social Care NHS Foundation Trust must pay the woman £27,000 after an investigation by two ombudsmen. They found she was left without sufficient funds for 14 months after her legs were amputated and her personal budget of £7,000 a year for depression had to be reassessed.

 

While she received basic care visits, the woman was left mainly housebound, became more depressed and isolated and had to spend money on taxis to make medical or other appointments.

 

Her doctors wrote to the council saying the delay was having a ‘significant adverse impact’ on her wellbeing. But the authorities continued to wrangle about whether her needs were mostly physical or mental health related, how much support she should receive and which organisation would pay for it.

 

more at link

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/sheffield-double-amputee-awarded-27-000-after-failure-in-care-1-7283487

 

"

 

 

This is happening more and more with the cuts in adult social care and for the most part the public are not aware of it, as a post notes in the disability board:

 

"Some people have lost a third of their care, only 20 minutes is allocated for bathing, breakfast and dressing, others are having to pay up to a third towards their care, (something the public is generally unaware of, people have told (not in all cases)of rude and unhelpful staff, difficult and traumatic assessments, while others have been offered 're-ablement' or nothing at all and are frequently trapped in their homes."

 

There must be lots of disabled people on these boards and carers who are experiencing what must be nightmares for them, but we are not hearing about it.

Edited May 29, 2015 by alternageek
amended vb tags

[geared 303]

Sounds more like classic council incompetence and red tape than anything to do with cuts to be honest.

 

They just saw the woman as a figure and argued amongst themselves over where to pigeon-hole here.

[gamezone07 23]

Didn't you read the extra part I added from elsewhere on SF?, its systemic as a consequence of the reduction in govt funding for adult care..

[geared 303]

I don't question the reduction in funding has hit people had, but in that case it did look more like lazy arses in the council were trying to pass the buck so it wouldn't be their problem.

[cytine 40]

The cuts are blamed for everything this incompetent council fails on. They decide where to make cuts and they are always in high profile departments so they can score political points and blame the "Nasty Tories". SCC will never take any blame, it's always, always someone else's fault. Now this department has £27,000 less and none of the well paid managers will admit mistakes, accept responsibility or be disciplined in any way, will they?

But never mind, they have safely been voted back in and don't give a toss, so carry on and expect more of the same.

[hamatik 10]

Times like these make me appreciate being healthy and having all my limbs etc. Ask anyone who works in care and they'll tell you it's an absolute disgrace, some being paid less than minimum wage (when taking into account travel expenses) for what is an extremely challenging job - both physically and emotionally.

 

---------- Post added 29-05-2015 at 16:24 ----------

 

But never mind, they have safely been voted back in and don't give a toss, so carry on and expect more of the same.

I'll not argue that individuals within the council could have done a better job, as I'm sure that is the case. But less and less funding is being allocated to individuals who need care. This results is less visits, and also a drastic reduction in the quality of the care they do receive.

 

But I'm sure the council should also bear a share of the responsibility too.

[Jonny5 10]

The cuts are blamed for everything this incompetent council fails on. They decide where to make cuts and they are always in high profile departments so they can score political points and blame the "Nasty Tories". SCC will never take any blame, it's always, always someone else's fault. Now this department has £27,000 less and none of the well paid managers will admit mistakes, accept responsibility or be disciplined in any way, will they?

But never mind, they have safely been voted back in and don't give a toss, so carry on and expect more of the same.

The only thing I would add to that is that the cuts have affected the council but only because they are unable to apply them where there is wastage. Which you kinda implied anyhow

 

This story is pure council incompetence. Scandalous.

[the_bloke 17]

My wife works for the social care side of SCC, and they are truly incompetent. The management structure is broken due to long term sickness, suspensions and people not being replaced, while those like herself working the front line often fail to get paid properly due to simple things like timesheets getting muddled up.

 

People with no managerial skill being placed in charge and getting threatened with union involvement as they don't have a clue what they are doing and end up breaking employment laws.

 

Managers getting suspended on baseless accusations, on full pay for 18 months, only for them to come back for a day then knock off sick for the next 6 months then hand their notice in.

 

If you want a real laugh, SCC is still undergoing a legal challenge regarding equal ops pay, where female workers, mostly care staff, were being paid less than male equivalents on the same bands. SCC paid out back in the 2000s to compensate a load of female workers who weren't being paid correctly, then totally failed to change their practices so are being taken to court again for the same reason. My wife is due a payment before the end of this year of £2 plus interest for every hour worked since 2007 to 2012 when they changed all the contracts.

 

Total incompetence.

[cytine 40]

My wife works for the social care side of SCC, and they are truly incompetent. The management structure is broken due to long term sickness, suspensions and people not being replaced, while those like herself working the front line often fail to get paid properly due to simple things like timesheets getting muddled up.

 

People with no managerial skill being placed in charge and getting threatened with union involvement as they don't have a clue what they are doing and end up breaking employment laws.

 

Managers getting suspended on baseless accusations, on full pay for 18 months, only for them to come back for a day then knock off sick for the next 6 months then hand their notice in.

 

If you want a real laugh, SCC is still undergoing a legal challenge regarding equal ops pay, where female workers, mostly care staff, were being paid less than male equivalents on the same bands. SCC paid out back in the 2000s to compensate a load of female workers who weren't being paid correctly, then totally failed to change their practices so are being taken to court again for the same reason. My wife is due a payment before the end of this year of £2 plus interest for every hour worked since 2007 to 2012 when they changed all the contracts.

 

Total incompetence.

Most managers and senior managers in the private as well as the public sector get the jobs simply because they have a degree, usually in Media Studies. Art or some other pointless subject. They have no idea about business, finance or how to handle people whether staff or customers.

Experienced and knowledgeable staff are overlooked and ignored in favour of immature kids straight out of university who know nothing of the business they are in but think they know it all, when all they really know is what they've been told by a lecturer (who knows nothing outside the world of education) or what they have read in books.

I saw this in the latter years of my working life and the results are the disastrous situation we are now seeing. Good managers takes years of experience, it doesn't come with a piece of paper

Edited May 29, 2015 by cytine

[Happ Hazzard 10]

Cutting the pensions would be the biggest saving that could possibly be made. Do that before cutting care for the vulnerable.

[mrswilson22 10]

This goverment are an absolute disgrace they are closing down the independent living fund at the end of June this year which means over 18000 disabled people have lost their funding that allows them to live and lead as independant a life as they possibly can. Those people are now being transfered over to local authority adult social care which already on its knees. HANG YOUR HEAD IN SHAME DAVID CAMERON FOR ALLOWING THIS TRAVESTY TO HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!

[gingablade 10]

Cutting the pensions what do you think they get a super golden hand shake. The majority of public employees will leave with a pension pot of less than 10 k that is a well publicised fact. So I would guess that from the massive pension pot they will get a massive extra £300 or so a year where would that save any money. The original post is about a disabled person having to pay for her own care. This was caused by a dispute between the council and the nhs who both disputed who should pay for the persons care. Has luck had it the person had the ability to pay for some care what would have happened if that hadn't been the case?

Edited May 31, 2015 by gingablade