Social care crisis warning as complaints rise sharply

Watchdog reveals hundreds more cases following series of high-profile scandals

COMPLAINTS about care services have risen steeply amid growing concern over issues such as under-staffing and the wellbeing of care home residents.

A total of 3,788 complaints were logged with the sector’s watchdog in the 12 months to the end of March this year - 551 more than in the previous year. The increase in issues raised with the Care Inspectorate came despite a slight fall in the number of registered care services.

High-profile scandals are believed to have raised public expectations and more people are thought to be aware of how to complain. However, care providers themselves have warned that tight budgets and underfunding may make it harder to maintain standards.

Neil Findlay, shadow cabinet spokesman for health and wellbeing, said the rise in complaints highlighted an ongoing “crisis” in social care services.

He said: “Sadly, these figures come as no surprise as we hear week in and week out complaints of falling standards and poor levels of care.

“We will never improve care services until we end the low pay, poor training and falling quality culture within the sector.”

The watchdog’s annual report reveals concern over standards led to enforcement notices being issued to 46 services, including 25 care homes, last year.

Despite this, 92 per cent of Scotland’s 14,090 care services were given good, very good or excellent grades by inspectors, the Care Inspectorate said.

The agency, which has a budget of £33.7 million, is responsible for monitoring the quality of residential care homes, nurseries, and childminders.

It also regulates adoption and fostering services and is working with other agencies such as education, health and police watchdogs on joint inspections of children’s and older people’s services.

Annette Bruton, chief executive of the Care Inspectorate, said: “Where standards are not up to scratch we will continue to seek improvement where possible and use our legal powers to protect vulnerable people from harm.”

However, the report reveals that the agency carried out 1,010 fewer inspections last year - 7,825 compared with 8,835 in 2012-13.

It has had internal problems, with a staff survey last year warning of low morale due to stress, restructuring and concerns about workload.

The new report shows sickness absence levels are high, up from 4.2 per cent to 4.9 per cent, against a public sector benchmark of 3.0 per cent.

A spokesman for the inspectorate said the reduction in inspections was mainly due to a new regime which has seen inspectors focusing on services which are known or believed to have problems, and a greater intensity of scrutiny of those high-risk services.

“Based on the risk and intelligence we hold on care services across Scotland we targeted our finite resources on those services that are inherently risky to ensure we provide protection and assurance for people using services, their families and carers,” he said.

An advertising campaign raising awareness of the Care Inspectorate’s work may help explain the rise in complaints, as may a series of high-profile enforcements, particularly in Edinburgh, where a number of homes accepted restrictions on accepting new referrals. One, Pentland Hill, was forced to close after being ordered to make urgent changes by inspectors. The inspectorate has also de-registered a number of childminding services.

Paul Edie, chair of the Care Inspectorate, said it was important to have robust and rigorous inspections especially when major changes were being made to health and social care services.

“The focus of our scrutiny must be on the outcomes experienced by people who rely on care services,” he said.

Last month, Scottish Care, which represents private care home providers, said inadequate local authority funding risked a care crisis in some areas.

Ranald Mair, Scottish Care’s chief executive, said yesterday: “We welcome the Care Inspectorate report and are pleased at the sustained level of performance it shows.

“It is clear that adequately resourcing care includes investing in the workforce to take on very demanding work, especially as the needs of older people become more complex.

“There needs to be commitment led by the care inspectorate to support improvement rather than simply saying what is wrong,” he went on to say.