Institutional abuse and Evictions of Care Home Residents

Doug Paulley made this Freedom of Information request to Aberdeen City Council

The request was successful.

From: Doug Paulley

25 June 2010

Dear Aberdeen City Council,

1) 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 sitaution, i.e.
if and how the situation was resolved.

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

Further, please provide anonymised information on the alleged
behaviour by Leonard Cheshire resulting in the conclusion.

Yours faithfully,

Doug Paulley

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From: Foi Enquiries
Aberdeen City Council

28 June 2010

Dear Mr Paulley,

Freedom of Information enquiry reference ENQ8942.

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 received on 25 June 2010, which has been forwarded to the relevant section.

The scheduled date for our response to your request for information is 23 July 2010.

If you have any enquiries meantime please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours sincerely,

Jean Reid
FOI Compliance Assistant

FoI Enquiries Team
Legal and Democratic Services
Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
Town House
Broad Street
Aberdeen AB10 1AQ
Tel: 01224 522875/523827
Fax: 01224 638556
email: [Aberdeen City Council request email]

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From: Foi Enquiries
Aberdeen City Council

1 July 2010

Dear Mr Paulley,

Thank you for your request for information, made under Section 1(1) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA), and received on 25 June 2010.

We would like to ask you to clarify your request so that we can identify and locate the information which you have requested. Under Section 1(3) of the FOISA, we do not have to supply you with the requested information until you have provided us with more detail in this respect.

Are you seeking information regarding individuals placed by Aberdeen City Council in care homes? Also clarification around the abbreviation CQC - what does this stand for? Again are you referring to individuals placed by Aberdeen City Council with Leonard Cheshire establishments? ACC would not hold the information for all residents/Leonard Cheshire service users.

Clarifying these points will help us to be sure we are providing, where possible, the information you are interested in.

Please note we have 20 days from receipt of your clarification in which to respond.

If you have any queries, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Yours sincerely,

Jean Reid
FOI Compliance Assistant

FoI Enquiries Team
Legal and Democratic Services
Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
Town House
Broad Street
Aberdeen AB10 1AQ
Tel: 01224 522875/523827
Fax: 01224 638556
email: [Aberdeen City Council request email]

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From: Doug Paulley

1 July 2010

Dear Foi Enquiries,

Thank you for your most pertinent queries.

I apologise for using the abbreviation CQC, that wasn't the right
one. the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the organisation in the
UK that regulates social care (And others), the equivalent in
Scotland is (I think) the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of
Care; please treat my enquiry as if it relates to this body
instead.

I am interested in incidents you are aware of whether you have made
the placement or not; i.e. all such cases you are aware of. I know
that you won't be aware of all incidences in Leonard Cheshire
homes, but would be grateful for any information you have where you
are aware of such incidents.

Thank you

Yours sincerely,

Doug Paulley

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From: Foi Enquiries
Aberdeen City Council

2 July 2010

Dear Mr Paulley,

Freedom of Information enquiry reference ENQ8942.

Thank you for the email of clarification of your request for information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 received on 2 July 2010, which has been forwarded to the relevant section.

The scheduled date for our response to your request for information is 30 July 2010.

If you have any enquiries meantime please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours sincerely,

Jean Reid
FOI Compliance Assistant

FoI Enquiries Team
Legal and Democratic Services
Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
Town House
Broad Street
Aberdeen AB10 1AQ
Tel: 01224 522875/523827
Fax: 01224 638556
email: [Aberdeen City Council request email]

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From: Doug Paulley

31 July 2010

Dear Foi Enquiries,

I wonder if I could chase please,

It's now been more than 20 working days since I made the request
(excluding the clarification time) and as such you should normally
have responded by now, both promptly and by 30th July.

I wonder if you could please chase it up.

Thank you

Yours sincerely,

Doug Paulley

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From: Foi Enquiries
Aberdeen City Council

3 August 2010

Dear Mr Paulley,

Please accept our sincerest apologies for the late response to your
information request.

Thank you for your information request of 2 July 2010, made under the
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). Aberdeen City
Council (ACC) has completed the necessary search for the information
requested.

1) 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.
This response is based on Learning Disability services.There have been
no attempts buy care providers to evict residents in care homes over the
last three years.

2) Please provide me with the number of instances your council is aware
of where either CQC or local authority safeguarding procedures have
substantiated allegations of insitutional abuse of a Leonard Cheshire
social care service user over the past 3 years.
Further, please provide anonymised information on the alleged behaviour
by Leonard Cheshire resulting in the conclusion.
Aberdeen City has two Leonard Cheshire projects neither of which have
had local authority adult support and protection procedures instigated.

We hope this helps with your request.

Yours sincerely,

Jean Reid
FOI Compliance Assistant

FURTHER INFORMATION

If you are unhappy with the response to your request for information,
or the way in which your request has been handled, you can submit a
complaint or request a review of our response. You should do this by 26
October 2010. To complain or request a review, write to:

City Archivist
Legal and Democratic Services
Aberdeen City Council
Old Town House
Broad Street
Aberdeen
AB10 1AQ
[email address]

Your request for review must include your name, an address, and your
reason(s) for requesting a review. You should also include the reference
number for your original request for information.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your request for review,
you can apply directly to the Office of the Scottish Information
Commissioner (OSIC) for a decision. Generally, OSIC cannot make a
decision unless you have been through the Council’s review procedure.
The Scottish Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

The Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9DS
www.itspublicknowledge.info

FoI Enquiries Team
Legal and Democratic Services
Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
Town House
Broad Street
Aberdeen AB10 1AQ
Tel: 01224 522875/523827
Fax: 01224 638556
email: [Aberdeen City Council request email]

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From: Doug Paulley

3 August 2010

Dear Aberdeen City Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Aberdeen City
Council's handling of my FOI request 'Institutional abuse and
Evictions of Care Home Residents'.

Whilst I thank you for the information provided, the information
you provided in relation to evictions or serving notice etc.
relates solely to service provision for people with learning
difficulties, whereas I would like information relating to all
people who may use residential care home facilities, including
people with physical impairments and elderly people.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/in...

Yours faithfully,

Doug Paulley

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From: Foi Enquiries
Aberdeen City Council

4 August 2010

Dear Mr Paulley,

I forwarded your additional email received this morning to the services concerned with the previous response and have been advised the following:

Further to our phone call I now understand that the enquirer is looking for the number of evictions by providers of care from care homes across all categories of care, not limited to Learning Disabilities.

I have checked with relevant colleagues and am advised that there have been no evictions of local authority funded service users from care homes within the city.

Please accept my apology.

Please advise if you still wish ACC to carry out a Review into the way your request was handled.

Yours sincerely,

Jean Reid
FOI Compliance Officer (Acting)

FoI Enquiries Team
Legal and Democratic Services
Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
Town House
Broad Street
Aberdeen AB10 1AQ
Tel: 01224 522875/523827
Fax: 01224 638556
email: [Aberdeen City Council request email]

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From: Doug Paulley

4 August 2010

Dear Foi Enquiries,

Thank you for the information, no that's fine no need for the
review.

Yours sincerely,

Doug Paulley

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Things to do with this request

Anyone:
Aberdeen City Council only: