Institutional abuse and Evictions of Care Home Residents

There was some form of delivery error so Somerset asked for an alternative address, through which they supplied the following information.

> From: Sheila Burridge
> Sent: 21 July 2010 11:42
> To: '39741-d8e3e217@whatdotheyknow.com'
> Cc: Jan Kedward; Peter Grogan
> Subject: Freedom of Information request 122
>
> Dear Doug
>
> I am writing in respect of your recent request for information from
> Somerset County Council which been has dealt with under the provisions
> of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
>
> In response to your questions
> 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.
> From Mendip and South Somerset area - we have identified 6 occasions
> when we have been aware of residents being given notice by care homes
> without prior discussion or against their wishes. Three of these were
> because of resident's challenging behaviours; one due to a resident
> having higher level of care needs than the home could manage and the
> last two where relative's behaviour has been significantly challenging
> to cause a breakdown with the home who have then given notice to the
> resident.
> In all cases, ASC were either already involved through care management
> or were asked to become involved once notice was received by
> residents/ families. Support was then provided to reassess needs and
> enable the placement to be managed appropriately until an alternative
> suitable placement could be arranged.
> From Taunton area it is estimated there are about 4 such incidents per
> year
>
> From Somerset Coast area - in the last three years we have had three
> residential homes that have closed part or all of their beds. In all
> these situations ASC became involved once the information about the
> closure had been shared with residents and their families. Support was
> then provided in reassessing the needs of the individuals, talking to
> them and their families about the alternative Homes available in the
> locality, assisting them through visits and information to identify a
> new Home that would be able to meet their needs.
>
> In terms of individual service users being given notice, we have
> identified two cases of this occurring. In both cases ASC were already
> involved through care management. In both these cases the individual's
> level of need had increased greatly and they required a level of
> specialist support that their current Home was unable to provide.
> Joint assessments were undertaken by health and social care
> professionals to assess the individual's needs and additional support
> was provided into the Home to ensure the individual's needs were
> appropriately managed until an alternative placement could be
> arranged.
>
> From Learning Disabilities Service - data is not collected. The
> incidence of residents being required to leave care homes happens on
> an occasional basis, for a wide variety of reasons.
>
>
>
>
> 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 institutional 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.
>
> We have no record of any allegations of institutional abuse being
> substantiated in a Leonard Cheshire Home
>
> We have no knowledge of safeguarding issues at Leonard Cheshire homes
> where the allegations have been substantiated.
>
>
>
>
> If you feel you request has not been answered in sufficient detail or
> if you wish to clarify the information given please contact me and I
> will be happy to address the issues you raise.
>
> If you are dissatisfied with the way in which your request has been
> dealt with, or the information you have received, you can make a
> complaint or ask us to review our decision. Please send your complaint
> to Peter Grogan, Corporate Information Governance Manager, County
> Hall, Taunton, TA1 4DY or to PTGrogan@somerset.gov.uk
> An internal review will then be carried out and we will write to you
> with the results of our investigation. If you are not content with the
> outcome of our review, you may then apply directly to the Information
> Commissioner for a decision:
>
> Information Commissioner's Office
> Wycliffe House
> Water Lane
> Wilmslow
> Cheshire
> SK9 5AF
>
>
> Sheila Burridge
> Admin Secretary and PA to Julia Ingram
> Adult social care commissioning and policy team
> Somerset County Council
>
> * Community Directorate, Floor A2, County Hall, Taunton TA1 4DY
> * 01823 357995
> * SBurridge@somerset.gov.uk
>