Adult Social Services

[Pea_WoS]

Has this happened to you?

• GP make referral to Adult Social Services

• Social Services make contact by phone, share some generic information and agree to do home visit to discuss care needs/detail

• Social Worker turns up late with no warning or explanation having booked an appointment at an un-godly hour

• Social Worker makes token gesture to engage with client and proceeds to discuss care needs in separate room with client’s advocate(s)

• Asks what help is required and states that this is not needed since client already has suitable equipment that negates the need for extra help

• Advocate explains that there is more to it than just having a “medical bed” - there is a need to turn the client, change pad etc and being a double-up cared for client one person cannot manage

• Social Worker insists - no need as the bed (with its magic properties) meets care requirements

• Advocate explains client is not sleeping as is not comfortable (unable to turn, soiled pad, leaking pad, soiled bed sheets etc.)

• Social Worker suggests she can talk to GP to see if client can be helped medically (we can all guess what this means)

• Advocate gets the picture and decides not to waste time as during all of this, the social worker has

1. Been distracted by her phone
2. Yawning
3. Sniffling and various other indicators to suggest lack of interest in case
4. Refusing to listen - stating care needs already being met

• Advocate agrees she should contact the GP
• Social worker asks who GP is
• When told who GP is, SW states “Oh, this GP never responds to e-mails”
• Another bad sign
• Advocate gives up and sees the SW out

Advocate vainly hopes SW might at least contact GP.

One month later, client (me) receives letter with heading “Re: Case Closure”

The letter which is addressed to me, but salutes another client!!, goes on to say “ … the home visit to complete a review of the care needs, in which it was established the current level of care is meeting her daily care needs and she does not require any night support …”

What a shambolic waste of time and money.

This social worker had come with a predetermined outcome and delivered the same.

That is the sorry state of Adult Social Services in this part of the world.

Perhaps you are having better luck with your care needs

Take care, sleep well.

Pea.

[Mrs5K]

Well, I am lost for words. I would be inclined to complain. Although I am probably not that surprised.

[Jbob]

Hi, as someone who works in social care sadly I’m not surprised - I have been asked why I don’t qualify as a social worker. My reply is I have friends and a soul.

Adult teams are not well enough funded and usually stretched with some newly qualified workers who often are under prepared for the job they do, some only there for the professionals salary and not very good at social skills the thing they are tasked to do. That being said they all are managed at local level and have a line manager and if you can get them raise all these concerns with them, I’m in Scotland so know that system better but broadly the same as done cross border work.

I would go back to the GP or call to explain the above and the fact you had an advocate there as a witness should help with this. Your needs have not been met by a statutory body and can be challenged. Ask for another referral and assessment as this has not met your needs in the slightest, you can ask for another worker to do this but they may say only person is the one who did this. Either way you deserve better and clearly need assistance and to get this a proper assessment of need. HTH and good luck

[Susan_Jane]

Hi @Pea_WoS So sorry to read of your unbelievable experience with the Adult Social Services in your area.

I am genuinely lost for words but would definitely recommend that you complain, not quite sure who to at this point but this treatment is unacceptable.

Maybe start with your GP who can point you in the right direction at least and hopefully get you a second referral/assessment.
Good luck, I hope you get this sorted soon.

Regards Sue

[Fallenleaf]

My husband is a social worker, I showed him this post and he says you need to make a formal complaint directly, if the SW is with your locql council then you need to make a complaint to them. If it is with an agency you can still make a formal complaint to them, look on their website, it will be there. I am sorry you have been through such hardships. They should be helping you. Please let us know how it goess

[DavidHearnden]

Have just seen your post. I’m a stroke survivor and a social worker (working for a local authority). If I can help in any way, I’m prepared to do so, let me know.

If you do decide to complain, address the complaint to the leader of your local authority, it’s more likely to have an effect.

Aside from my job, I’m in the process of producing guidance for social workers on effective social work with stroke survivors (such guidance doesn’t exist), and it would be really helpful if I could include what you have written, illustrating what is poor practice. I’m hoping to get it published eventually by the British Association of Social Workers

Hope to hear from you. All the best - David Hearnden

[ManjiB]

Words fail me!

I have seen stories about Social Services failing children e.g. Baby P and a few others that made headlines, all of which is shameful and shocking. I didn’t think it was possible to be worse not that you can necessarily compare the two, but this is just as bad and the fact this goes on is shocking.

I have read all the comments and there seems to be a common consensus this is a terrible thing to happen.

I find it particularly sad to read

@Jbob

Adult teams are not well enough funded and usually stretched with some newly qualified workers who often are under prepared for the job they do, some only there for the professionals salary and not very good at social skills the thing they are tasked to do. That being said they all are managed at local level and have a line manager and if you can get them raise all these concerns with them, I’m in Scotland so know that system better but broadly the same as done cross border work.

I rather think the professional salary element rings true. You can’t blame someone for wanting to better their career prospects and earning potential, but surely those responsible for hiring need to do better in terms of vetting, training and monitoring performance. These are peoples lives we are talking about.

The attitude shown in this case is a total disgrace and going by the comments not isolated.

@DavidHearnden

Aside from my job, I’m in the process of producing guidance for social workers on effective social work with stroke survivors (such guidance doesn’t exist), and it would be really helpful if I could include what you have written, illustrating what is poor practice. I’m hoping to get it published eventually by the British Association of Social Workers

This couldn’t come sooner, but I wonder how we can get this message across the whole service. There are so many local variances and I am sure that there are some excellent Social Service providers but they might be in the minority?

The whole system needs an overhaul by the looks of it.

[Pea_WoS]

Thanks to everyone for your feedback and comments - these are much appreciated.

David - thank you for your feedback and kind offer to help. I would very much like to accept your offer as I am sure I would struggle to take this further.

The situation is not actually new inasmuch I have had problems with my social services provider from the first day I was unfortunate enough to need their services. They became involved with me when I was in hospital following my stroke and it was not something I had instigated. I expect it was part of the hospital/NHS procedure to involve them to “help” someone like me.

It seems they were asked to help so that the hospital bed I was occupying could be freed up. At no point did I ever get the feeling they were acting in my best interests. Please note, when I speak here and where I refer to myself, in most cases I mean “we” as in my family and me. Being unable to speak for myself it was my family who did my talking for me and this continues to this day.

My mental and physical condition has never been truly understood by the medical profession and they have not listened to us (my family and myself) when we have tried to explain things as they are rather than as they think or believe they are. As a result, I have never been afforded the care I needed/need and that which would have enabled me to better recover from this dreadful infliction.

The social services were very successful in their objective to help free the hospital bed. It did not matter that they helped to get me discharged from hospital to be cared for at home despite the fact the home had not been adapted for the care needs. They pressured my family into making decisions which were not necessarily in my best interests. As a result of their actions, I was effectively a prisoner in my own home, stuck in a room (cf prison cell) because the door was not wide enough to allow easy access. In fact, it purely by luck they were even able to get me into the room in the first place as there wasn’t enough room for manoeuvre.

To cut a long story short, the social services have never acted in the best interests of me, which unless I am mistaken, they surely should within reason as in I am not asking for a mansion or luxury equipped home, just a comfortable care environment in which I can be cared for. They have bullied and used veiled threats/scare mongering to keep my family at bay. In the end, we got so fed up with them, we wanted nothing to do with them as it was nothing more than a waste of time and energy whenever we had any dealings with them.

As a result of the shabby and unacceptable treatment I had in my early days post stroke, my family lodged a complaint. Not being savvy, they followed “council complaints” guidelines and the outcome was:

• no initial response
• following a chase up they responded they had investigated our complaint and there was no case to answer and if we wished to escalate we should follow the escalation instructions

They had effectively swept our complaint under the carpet.

The complaint was addressed to the social worker (responsible), her manager and some other manager who had been involved in a heated meeting we had with them about what was happening with Mum’s care.

It is our belief, they had used their own past experiences of how to deal with complaints to effectively kill off our complaint. This is based on the fact the complaint was sat on/ignored until chased up (so already if we had not followed up, the complaint would have been conveniently filed) and then how the escalation was effectively dismissed.

You will appreciate it is not easy to discuss this here on this forum and especially as I have not taken time to prepare for the case.

We have huge reservations about lodging another complaint about the last review, which clearly is deserving a complaint, if not for anything else, so that the social worker can be trained properly to do her job so that she cannot inflict such rubbish on other poor unsuspecting “citizens”.

David, if I may, I’d like to think about and discuss with my family how we feel about lodging a complaint. We are conscious this could take a lot of time and energy which don’t feel we have right now as my care needs are a huge drain on valuable resources.

I really appreciate your kind offer and I will definitely get back to you if we decide to go ahead.

Wrt to your request to include my case for use in the guidance for social workers on effective social work with stroke survivors, I am more than happy for you to use this and I can offer more as I feel very strongly about how pathetic social workers have been. I believe I am not alone in feeling this way and even if one person could be helped as a result of my case being used for illustration it would be worth it. I feel bad as I don’t like to judge and pigeon hole people as I don’t believe in that, especially I have been a victim so often e.g. agism etc. but I can’t help but think how bad social workers are (I am really sorry and I make an exception in your case as you have shown a real understanding and desire to do what a social worker should do).

Let us see if we can’t do things to improve the dire state of Adult Social Work

Take care.

[DavidHearnden]

Thanks. If you decide to take it further let me know.

Could I ask how the stroke has affected you. I picked up you have significant physical difficulties. Also communication difficulties.

I can let you have my contact details if it would be easier. I know there are restrictions

I work for Warwickshire Adult Social Services as a senior social worker, full time at 72. I’ve worked with many stroke survivors in the past and been involved in stroke rehabilitation nationally.

I survived a brain haemorrhage and stroke 25 years ago, which has left me with right side weakness and restricted mobility.

All the best - David