Upheld, recommendations

Summary

Mrs C complained about the care the treatment her late mother (Mrs A) had received from the medical practice in the months prior to her death. Mrs A had been admitted to hospital as it appeared she had suffered mini strokes. However, following her admission she was diagnosed with metastatic cancer (cancer that spreads to other parts of the body), and died shortly thereafter.

We took independent advice from one of our GP advisers, who said that Mrs A had been suffering from anxiety symptoms and memory problems for which she had been prescribed medication. Our adviser considered that Mrs A had been regularly reviewed by the practice, and there was no pattern or evidence to suggest Mrs A had an underlying diagnosis of metastatic cancer or the medication she had been prescribed masked any symptoms of metastatic cancer or strokes.

Although we considered the care and treatment Mrs A received was mostly reasonable, we found certain aspects of her care fell below this standard.

While, generally, the medication Mrs A was prescribed and its monitoring was appropriate, one of Mrs A's medications which had been stopped was still being prescribed.

We found a failure to action the results of a liver function test result although we accepted the result would not have triggered any concerns of underlying metastatic disease.

While communication with Mrs A's family was of a reasonable standard, we found that one of the doctors had used insensitive and inappropriate language during a home visit to Mrs A, and the practice could have done more to ensure that they had complied with a specific request from Mrs A's family to be present during a home visit given Mrs A's memory problems and that they were her carers.

Recommendations

We recommended that the practice:

• ensure they discuss Mrs A's case and the complaint as a significant event review, paying particular attention to safe acute and repeat prescription prescribing for the elderly and in their communication with carers of patients;
• share with relevant staff our adviser's comments concerning the apparent failure to action and follow-up the abnormal liver test result, and advise what action has been taken to ensure this does not recur;
• provide confirmation that the doctor in question will discuss the inappropriate use of colloquial language at his yearly appraisal; and
• apologise to Mrs C and her sister for those aspects of Mrs A's care which fell below a reasonable standard.

Summary

Mr C was escorted to the sheriff court by an escorting agency which provides all custody and court escorting services on behalf of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS). He said that when he arrived, the escorting officers were instructed to keep him double cuffed. This meant that Mr C had one set of cuffs linking his wrists and a second set linking one of his wrists to an officer's wrist. Mr C said he remained in double cuffs until he was returned to prison. Because of that, Mr C complained that the agency held him in double cuffs for an unreasonably long period of time. In addition, he said they failed to carry out any risk assessment.

The agency told Mr C that every prisoner would be risk assessed throughout the day. They said the assessment would consider information supplied to them by partner agencies and could also include known behavioural factors from previous times when held in custody by the agency.

We reviewed the relevant operational instructions which confirmed that prior to taking a decision to hold a prisoner in double cuffs, a risk assessment should be carried out to assess whether they are required. In addition, the instructions confirmed that if an assessment indicates that double cuffs are required, permission should be sought from the sheriff. In Mr C's case, no evidence was offered by the agency to suggest that the relevant risk assessment or the appropriate permission was sought prior to taking the decision to hold him in double cuffs. Therefore, we upheld Mr C's complaints.

Recommendations

We recommended that SPS:

• apologise to Mr C, on behalf of the agency, for the failures that our investigation highlighted; and
• remind the agency of the requirement to make an appropriate record of any risk assessment carried out and permission sought when taking the decision to hold a prisoner in double cuffs at court.

Summary

Mr C was taken into his trial at the sheriff court whilst wearing double cuffs. This meant Mr C was wearing one set of cuffs to link his wrists together and a second set linking one of his wrists to the escorting officer's wrist. Mr C complained that the escorting agency inappropriately failed to seek permission to double cuff him. He said the agency also failed to provide an appropriate response to his complaint.

An agency provides all custody and court escorting services on behalf of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS). That agency's operational instructions confirm that handcuffs in sheriff and jury trials will normally not be allowed. However, where a risk assessment dictates that handcuffs should be applied, the appropriate paperwork should be completed and forwarded to the clerk of court for approval by the sheriff. The instructions also confirm that the outcome of the request should be appropriately recorded. In Mr C's case, the SPS were unable to provide any evidence to show us that a risk assessment had been carried out prior to the decision taken to hold Mr C in double cuffs during his trial. Therefore, it was not clear why the decision was actually taken. In addition, there was no evidence available to confirm that the request was approved by the sheriff. We also concluded that the agency did not respond appropriately to Mr C's complaint because they failed to establish the facts in his case and because of that, it was unclear what had actually happened.

Therefore, we upheld Mr C's complaints.

Recommendations

We recommended that SPS:

• apologise to Mr C, on behalf of the agency, for the failures that our investigation highlighted;
• remind the agency to ensure that appropriate records are kept to evidence that proper process has been followed prior to taking a decision to hold a prisoner in double cuffs during a trial; and
• provide feedback to the agency in relation to good practice when investigating and responding to complaints from prisoners.

Summary

Mr C said the prison failed to reasonably investigate a complaint about the problems he had making an appeal against a disciplinary decision. Mr C's appeal was rejected because it was made too late. Mr C told the prison that an earlier appeal had been made within the two week deadline.

We agreed with Mr C. We found that the prison should have done more to investigate Mr C's claim that an earlier appeal had gone missing, both when Mr C raised the matter in a further appeal and, later, when he complained. Some sections of the forms which should have been filled in by the prison were incomplete or not signed. It was difficult to see how the prison had arrived at their decision. As there was no system in place for issuing receipts, Mr C had no way of proving that he had made an earlier appeal. The prison had no way of proving that an earlier appeal had not been made. We recommended that a system of issuing receipts is implemented for prisoners who want one.

We also found that the prison took too long to make a decision on the appeal Mr C made. They exceeded the 20 day timescale, without any explanation to Mr C.

Recommendations

We recommended that Scottish Prison Service:

• implement a system whereby prisoners are provided with a receipt for PAF 2 forms where they request one.

Summary

Mr C complained that the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) delayed sending all of his property when he was transferred from his previous prison to his current prison. Mr C also complained about how the prisons had dealt with his concerns and complaints about his property.

We found that Mr C's property was not returned to him until eight months after his transfer, and Mr C said there were still missing items. The SPS' records showed that the items Mr C specified were at his previous prison, but they were not recorded as being received at his current prison. Based on the records, we concluded that all of Mr C's property had not been returned to him.

Over a period of several months, Mr C tried to get his property returned by speaking to several different prison staff. Information we obtained from the SPS did not record any action being taken about Mr C's property until he complained, and although both Mr C and the SPS agreed that some action was taken, it had no effect until after Mr C complained. We could not find evidence of any coordinated effort between the two prisons in trying to locate and return all of Mr C's property. We upheld Mr C's complaints.

Recommendations

We recommended that SPS:

• ensure that both prisons work together and with Mr C to compare his property records to determine what, if any, items of property are missing;
• provide replacements, or provide Mr C with funds to purchase replacements for all items that are confirmed as missing;
• apologise to Mr C for the failure to send all of his property with him, and their failure to locate and return his property in a reasonable time; and
• examine what should have happened in this case compared with what did happen, in order to work out what went wrong and why, and determine what measures they will take to prevent it from happening again. This examination and its findings should be copied to us.

Summary

Mr C complained to us about the Scottish Prison Service (SPS)'s handling of his post programme report (the report) which was required eight weeks after the completion of his treatment programme. Mr C complained that, due to the delay in completing the report, his tribunal hearing had been adjourned and had the hearing not been adjourned authorisation for his release from prison may have been given. Also, as a result of the adjournment of the tribunal, his annual review which had been held in May would now be held in November.

The evidence showed that there had been an unreasonable delay in the completion of Mr C's report, so we upheld Mr C's complaint. However, we found that the hearing had also been adjourned for other reasons, including that Mr C was required to undertake further elements of the treatment programme. We found that even had the report not been delayed it was very unlikely that Mr C would have been able to complete all outstanding work by the date of the tribunal held in May.

We were aware that the SPS had taken action in response to a previous complaint to us in relation to avoiding unnecessary delays in the completion of reports. In addition, the SPS had taken action to address the specific factors faced by the prison at the time of this complaint which had impacted on the prison's ability to complete reports. As a result we recommended that the SPS apologise to Mr C for the delay in completing his report.

Recommendations

We recommended that SPS:

• apologise to Mr C for the unreasonable delay in completing his post programme report.

Summary

Mr C complained that his son's school had introduced a new policy on excursions that impacted unfairly on his son, who had a disability. Mr C said the school failed to consult him about the new policy and failed to take into account his son's needs and the Equality Act in developing the policy. Mr C also said the school applied the policy to his son in an unreasonable way, as they did not take into account his son's individual needs or ask his son's opinion when deciding whether an excursion would be suitable for him.

The council agreed that the school did not consult properly with parents of disabled pupils before they introduced the policy, but they said the school had now taken measures to improve their communication. However, the council said the school had taken the Equality Act and the needs of disabled pupils into account in developing the policy, and they had considered Mr C's son's individual needs when they applied the policy to him.

After investigating Mr C's concerns and taking independent equalities advice, we upheld the complaints. We found there was no evidence that the school had complied with their own Equality Policy or guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which sets out how organisations should take into account the public sector equality duty in developing new policies and making decisions. While the council said the policy complied with the Equality Act, there was no evidence that staff had actively considered the public sector equality duty or the impact of the policy on disabled students during the decision-making process. We also found there was no evidence the school took Mr C's son's individual needs into account when they applied the policy to him.

While we also found the school did not consult properly with parents before they introduced the policy, we accepted that the measures the school took to improve their communication were effective, as there was evidence that the school consulted parents appropriately when they later amended the policy.

Recommendations

We recommended that the council:

• apologise to Mr C for the failings our investigation found;
• remind school staff of the requirements of the public sector equality duty and the council's equality policy in relation to considering the equality impact of new policies and practices; and
• reconsider the excursion policy, taking into account the requirements of the Equality Act and the council's equality policy.

Summary

Ms C complained that the council were incorrectly pursuing her for payment of council tax arrears for a period after she had vacated her rented flat. Ms C said that she had paid the council tax demand she had received from the council, and when she notified them she was moving out two months before the lease ended, she was told her account had been closed. Subsequently, she had received council tax demands for sums due before she left, and until the formal end of her lease. The council had admitted to her that they had made mistakes with her council tax account. However, Ms C told us that they had not satisfactorily explained to her why they had told her that her account would be closed when she vacated the flat, had then made further demands, and then continued to send her demands for different amounts.

We upheld Ms C's complaint because it was clear not only that she had been given incorrect advice at the outset that her account would close when she vacated the flat, but there had been a catalogue of errors following on from this in the handling of her council tax liability. The council had recognised that their service to her was poor when they responded to her formal complaints, and apologised. However, we considered that more could be done to resolve Ms C's complaint because the council had failed to provide her with demands for payment which showed that they had correctly calculated both what she had paid into her account, and what she owed.

Recommendations

We recommended that the council:

• make a time and trouble payment to Ms C; and
• review Ms C's council tax liability and payments record and provide fresh billing notifications, with a covering letter explaining any changes made.

Summary

Mr C complained that the council failed or refused to answer reasonable enquiries he had made about repairs which were being undertaken on his property from statutory notices which had been served in 2008 and 2009. His partner (Ms C) had raised a complaint with them in 2011, and it had been closed without notification or an explanation. There had been other problems of poor communication by the council; works on two statutory notices had been completed, but he was not informed about this until 2014, and his query about an outstanding notice had not been answered. He was aggrieved because, despite what he considered had been very clear failings in addressing his concerns, the council had pressed him for payment when they issued the invoice, and threatened him with court proceedings if his payment was delayed.

From our investigation we found that Mr C had been wrongly informed that his complaint had been closed, because it had been considered by the independent panel set up by the council to consider complaints about statutory notices in 2013. We upheld this complaint. However, as the council had apologised to Mr C for their failings when they dealt with his complaint under their complaints process, and confirmed that they had taken action to improve their customer service, we did not make a recommendation about this.

Mr C had also complained that the council did not reply to his complaint about the failure to provide him with temporary heating during the works. We found no evidence that Mr C had been promised temporary heating. However, the matter had been raised by his partner with the council in 2011, and the council accepted this had not been dealt with. We upheld the complaint but were satisfied that the apology which had been given to Mr C was an appropriate resolution.

We upheld both of Mr C's complaints about the unreasonable failure to explain why the project had been suspended in 2011, and unreasonable delay to tell him that the works on two of the statutory notices had been completed in 2010. We recommended that the council should apologise to Mr C for their shortcomings. However, we did not consider that the failure we had identified was sufficient reason to recommend a reduction or the cancellation of the council's administrative fee, which was part of what Mr C sought in making a complaint to us.

Recommendations

We recommended that the council:

• apologise to Mr C and Ms C for the failure of both the council and the contract administrator to provide clarity about their respective roles and the suspension of the projects; and
• apologise to Mr C and Ms C for the failure to communicate with them about the status of the statutory notices.

Summary

Mr C is the landlord of several properties which he lets. He said that over the years he has received council tax bills for the full charge even although the properties were empty and he was due a ten percent exemption. He complained that the council were implementing a policy whereby they automatically billed for a full charge and that they failed to make any appropriate enquiries about the status of the property concerned.

Further enquiries were made of the council and the complaint was investigated. This showed that current legislation allowed that in circumstances like those of Mr C, the council should make a ten percent reduction but that in his case, because of human error, this had not happened. The situation was one of carelessness, rather than of a lack of understanding of the legislation. There was no policy to automatically bill the full charge but because of the error, we upheld Mr C's complaint. As a result of Mr C's complaint, the council have emphasised to staff what they should be doing in relation to unoccupied properties between lets and they have undertaken a three month check to ensure that this policy is followed. They are also in discussion with their software supplier in attempt to remove human error.

Recommendations

We recommended that the council:

• advise us of the outcome of their check and, in the event of a continued failure, of the further action they intend to take; and
• inform us of the outcome of their discussions with their software supplier.