In this month’s edition of the Ombudsman’s findings, we highlight our recent investigation reports.

This month we published decision reports from 17 complaints investigated by the Ombudsman. Fourteen of these were about health services, one about a housing association and two about local government. The outcome of these 17 complaints were

•    Fully upheld: 9
•    Some upheld: 5
•    Not upheld: 3

We made 45 recommendations to public bodies.

Our published decision reports can be read on our website.

Investigation reports

This month we published two investigation reports about the health sector. In these cases, we have made significant findings and laid a detailed report before Parliament. We publish these so that others can learn from the findings to prevent similar outcomes in the future.

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We found that a health board failed to provide reasonable care and treatment to a patient who suffered a bleed in the brain.

The board failed to perform an MRI scan before discharging the patient, who had a severe headache, and did not follow the advice of the neurosurgical team. They were readmitted the next day and died following a long hospital admission.

We made five recommendations to the board. We asked them to apologise to the patient’s family, review their current systems and monitor awareness and compliance of the relevant guidelines. 

Read report 202307762

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We found that a health board failed to provide reasonable nursing care (both at home and in hospital) to a patient with multiple sclerosis.

The patient, who was immobile and doubly incontinent, developed pressure damage to their skin and was later admitted to hospital with sepsis. They were discharged but readmitted shortly after and died during their admission.

We found that the district nursing team failed to update assessments accurately and did not appropriately check the patient’s skin during home visits. While in hospital, the nursing team did not provide reasonable end-of-life care or follow a person-centred care plan.

We made ten recommendations to the board. We asked them to apologise to the patient’s family and conduct an independent audit of both inpatient and district nursing care. 

Read report 202307063

Our published investigation reports can be read on our website.

Is the Children’s statutory complaints process working to support the very children it is designed to help?

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is calling for the statutory complaints process for cases involving children to be urgently reviewed, following the publication of separate investigation reports into the way two London councils have handled complaints.

The Ombudsman has uncovered systemic issues with the way London Borough of Lewisham operated its complaints procedure. Its investigation found families in the borough have often experienced lengthy delays and, in some cases, have been denied their right to access all three stages of the complaints procedure.

While in Harrow, the Ombudsman found the council had failed to follow the proper procedure when considering a family’s complaint about a lack of promised overnight respite care for their Disabled child, despite being reminded by the Ombudsman to do so.

Ms Amerdeep Somal, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said:

“The regulations and statutory guidance for councils to consider Children’s complaints are almost 20 years old. Councils tell us the process is overly complex, costly to run and does not always deliver good outcomes for the children at the heart of the complaints.

“Is this process is still fit for purpose in the modern local government landscape? We know some councils find the process difficult to follow, and this can result in children’s voices not being heard loudly enough.

“Even though we appreciate the difficulties councils face, we have issued these two reports because we will continue to hold councils to account when they do not meet the standards expected of them by the children and families in their area.”

Last year the Ombudsman upheld 96 per cent of the complaints it investigated about the statutory process, compared with 80 per cent of complaints about Children’s services more widely.

To support better complaint handling, the Ombudsman also offers advice to local councils on cases before they reach the Ombudsman stage. A quarter of all enquiries it received from councils last year were about the Children’s statutory process.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman remedies injustice and shares learning from investigations to help improve public, and adult social care, services. In the Lewisham case, the council has agreed to write to complainants who did not proceed to stage two of the procedure, apologise to them, and invite them to do so. It will also complete stage two of the procedure for the 12 complaints whose stage two investigations were ongoing.

It has also agreed to ensure staff involved in the children’s statutory process understand what is required to progress a complaint to stage two.

In Harrow, the council has agreed to apologise to the family, and pay them a combined £700 for the distress, worry and frustration caused by its faults.

It will also ensure it will start and complete stage two of the family’s complaints in the required timescale, and the same should apply if the family wish to take their complaint to stage three.

Am gestrigen Nachmittag besuchten Milen Starke, Staatssekretärin im Thüringer Ministerium für Digitales und Infrastruktur, und Dr. Kurt Herzberg, der Bürgerbeauftragte des Freistaats Thüringen, das RegionalCenter Anger der Sparkasse Mittelthüringen. Im Mittelpunkt des Besuchs stand die Dialoginsel, ein innovatives digitales Service-Angebot, das seit Juni 2024 in Betrieb ist und bereits viele positive Rückmeldungen von Kunden erhalten hat.

Sie bietet Kunden die Möglichkeit, sich per Bildschirm mit einem Mitarbeiter aus dem Digitalen Service der Sparkasse zu verbinden, ihre Anliegen digital zu klären und gleichzeitig eine persönliche Beratung zu erhalten. Um Sprachbarrieren zu überbrücken, lassen sich per Simultanübersetzung Gespräche in 24 gängigen Sprachen führen. 

Seit der Inbetriebnahme haben die Mitarbeiter der Sparkasse bereits über 3.000 Gespräche geführt. Im Schnitt können 9 von 10 Kundenanliegen innerhalb des Gesprächs fallabschließend geklärt werden. Die Zufriedenheit der Kunden mit der Dialoginsel liegt bei 96 %. Für die Sparkasse entlastet dieses Angebot die stationären Service-Points im RegionalCenter Anger. 

Staatssekretärin Milen Starke zeigte sich beeindruckt von der innovativen Lösung: „Die Dialoginsel ist ein hervorragendes Beispiel dafür, wie digitale Technologien genutzt werden können, um den Service für Kunden zu verbessern und gleichzeitig die Beratungseffizienz zu steigern. Ich bin überzeugt davon, dass sich diese Technologie auch für weitere Einsatzzwecke, z.B. im Bereich Bürgerservices adaptieren lässt.“

Dr. Kurt Herzberg, der das Treffen und den Austausch initiiert hatte, betonte, dass die Digitalisierung der Verwaltung auch diejenigen mitnehmen muss, die das direkte Gespräch und die unmittelbare Nachfrage brauchen: „Insbesondere die Bürgerinnen und Bürger in den ländlichen Gebieten unseres Freistaats benötigen einen direkten und persönlichen Zugang zu Ämtern und Behörden. Mit der Idee und der Technologie der Dialoginsel könnten wir das Gespräch mit den Ämtern und die Durchführung von Verwaltungsleistungen bürgernah und effektiv ermöglichen, und zwar auch für die 15 Prozent der Bevölkerung, die sich online schwer tun oder denen die technischen Voraussetzungen fehlen.“

Hans-Georg Dorst, Vorstandsvorsitzender der Sparkasse Mittelthüringen, freute sich über den Besuch: „Die Dialoginsel ist für uns eine großartige Möglichkeit, Digitalisierung und persönliche Nähe miteinander zu vereinen. Sie schafft für uns Effizienz in der Beratung, verkürzt die Wartezeiten am Service Point und gleichzeitig haben unsere Kunden damit immer auch einen persönlichen Ansprechpartner direkt im Gespräch vor Augen.“

Esta práctica, detectada a raíz de la queja de un ciudadano, no se ajusta a la normativa vigente sobre procedimiento administrativo ni a la propia ordenanza municipal.

Según concluyó el Ararteko, cuando una persona se identifica mediante certificado electrónico cualificado —como los emitidos por Izenpe o el DNI electrónico— no es necesario aportar copia del documento de identidad. La verificación ya se realiza de forma automática y segura a través del propio sistema.

Además, esta institución advertía que esta exigencia puede vulnerar el derecho a no presentar documentos que ya obran en poder de la Administración, así como el principio de minimización de datos personales previsto en la normativa de protección de datos.

Por todo ello, el Ararteko instó al consistorio a adaptar su sistema de registro a los estándares legales de identificación electrónica y a evitar barreras innecesarias en el acceso a los servicios públicos digitales.

El Ayuntamiento ha aceptado la recomendación y ha informado que ya existía un compromiso para corregir la situación y que se está preparando el sistema para que este cotejo se pueda lanzar desde el propio proceso de identificación en la sede con los datos del certificado.