Dear Mr Paulley,

Freedom of Information Act 2000 - Internal Review

I refer to your recent Freedom of Information enquiry concerning complaints submitted in respect of care homes. I have noticed that although you have not formally requested a review of the Council's handling of your request in writing, you have changed the status of your request on the “Whatdotheyknow” website to “Awaiting Internal Review”.

I have therefore looked at the Council's handling of your request in this case. Clearly, the Council has failed to comply with the provisions of section 10 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), as the response was not provided within twenty working days. Please accept my apologies for this.

In this case, the officer who was responsible for allocating your request and liaising with other officers to acquire the information has admitted that the delay was largely due to an oversight on her part. Having worked with the officer concerned on a number of issues, I can tell you that such oversights are not typical and for this reason, I do not intend to make any recommendations in this particular case.

With regard to the information you have requested, I can confirm the following:

“Please supply information relating to the incidence of attempts by care providers to evict residents in care homes - that is, care providers giving residents notice to leave or otherwise attempting to get them to leave without their involvement in the decision or against their wishes.

Please indicate the number of cases you are aware of for the last 3 years, also indicating if and how your council responded to the situation, and what was the ultimate result of the situation, i.e. if and how the situation was resolved”.

There are 2 instances in the last 3 years. In both instances, the Council worked with the residents and relatives to help identify alternative accommodation and ensure the safety and wellbeing of the residents, with staff being on hand to deal with any issues as they arose and to manage the distress of the unexpected move.

“Please provide you with the number of instances your council is aware of where either CQC or local authority safeguarding procedures have substantiated allegations of institutional abuse of a Leonard Cheshire social care service user over the past 3 years”.

Sandwells definition of Institutional abuse is as follows:

“Involves the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to vulnerable people. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour that amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and stereotyping. It includes a failure to ensure the necessary safeguards are in place to protect vulnerable adults and maintain good standards of care in accordance with individual needs, including training of staff, supervision and management, record keeping, inability or unwillingness to implement professional or clinical guidelines and liaise with other providers of care. Organisations that operate within a regulatory framework are responsible to their registering bodies for their actions and adherence to acceptable codes of practice and conduct.”

Based on our definition our response to this question is that for the time period specified I can confirm that we have no instances for a Leonard Cheshire social care service user over the past 3 years.

I hope that this information is of use to you.

If you are not content with the outcome of an internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF

www.ico.gov.uk

Yours sincerely

Nigel Parr

Data Protection/Freedom of Information Officer

Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council

Governance Services

Sandwell Council House, Oldbury, Sandwell, West Midlands B69 3DE