Making Complaints About Negligent Home Care

6th November 2013

With the government’s recent review into standards in the home care sector, people are asking personal injury solicitors what they should do if they are unhappy with the standards of treatment they have received by their carer and want to make a clinical negligence claim. At Clearwater Solicitors, we are always happy to discuss the circumstances of a person’s unique claim, at no cost and with no obligation – fill in our online enquiry form or call us on 08000 430 430 to find out what we could do for you.

The following guidelines should help you build your case and could improve standards of homecare in your local area.

What You Should Do If Homecare Is Negligent?

In most cases, you should contact your local authority or the organisation that provides the care initially. Tell them the nature of your concerns, such as clinical negligence or abuse, and they will provide you with information about how to make a complaint and give you some rough idea of how long the complaints procedure will take. You should expect investigations into your complaint to take a while, and the council or organisation should be able to offer you a timescale that you can use for reference.

Councils have special complaints procedures which they use to handle these complaints. Private or contracted care providers are required to have effective complaints procedures, with these regulated by the Care Quality Commission.

If you have suffered personal injuries or financial losses as a direct result of negligent standards of homecare and want to claim compensation, you should get in touch with our medical negligence solicitors as soon as possible.

If You Are Unhappy With The Way Your Complaint Has Been Handled

If you do not feel satisfied with the way your complaint has been handled or the outcome of your complaint, you should get in touch with the Local Government Ombudsman. This organisation will consider whether or not the care provider met the standards expected of it in complaints handling or in care overall and decide whether you have been the victim of an injustice.

The Local Government Ombudsman may decide that your complaint was not properly handled, but that the outcome of your complaint would have been the same had it been handled effectively, and you may receive an apology or a cash sum. In other cases, it will look into how things can be set right so that you are satisfied and the issues in your complaint are heeded.

If you are still unsatisfied with the findings of the Local Government Ombudsman, your next recourse will be to take legal action. Complaints handling is a key issue in the UK’s healthcare sector at the moment, so you will hopefully not reach this stage.

Clearwater Solicitors are always happy to provide advice and assistance, no matter where you are in the complaints procedure. Don’t hesitate to call us on 08000 430 430 or fill in our online enquiry form to benefit from the expert advice of our skilled and experienced team.