A woman was banned from visiting her mother in a Liverpool care home after she complained about her treatment, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found.

The woman, whose mother had been placed in a BUPA care home by Liverpool City Council, said she was banned by care staff from seeing her mum after she raised a number of concerns about the way her mother was fed, washed, and looked after.

And when she complained to the council, instead of investigating, it told her to raise her concerns with the care company.

The Ombudsman’s investigation found the council at fault for the way the care home looked after the mother, and for the way it handled the daughter’s complaint.

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said:

“Councils and care providers with open, transparent and mature complaints handling processes should welcome the feedback complaints bring. In this case, rather than act positively on the concerns raised by the daughter, staff acted defensively by banning her.

“When awarding care contracts to independent providers, councils need to remember they can outsource the care but cannot outsource the responsibility for that care. In such circumstances, I will find any fault by a care provider to be fault by the council.

“I’m pleased Liverpool City Council has accepted my recommendations, and, while the provider is no longer running the unit involved, I welcome its readiness to accept my recommendations and learn from this case.”

The daughter complained to the Ombudsman that her mother had been dressed in other people’s clothes. She said staff did not ensure her mother had the correct underwear and continence pads, meaning she was left in distress, sitting in her own urine.

The daughter said the home failed to have a care plan for her mother when she arrived, did not wash her mother’s hair for three weeks and did not take into account her mother’s dietary preferences because of previous medical conditions.

After raising her concerns with the care home, she – and a doctor - were prevented from seeing her mother when they tried to visit. The woman said she was not given any reasons for the ban, or any warnings such a ban would be imposed.

The care home later told the Ombudsman the ban was because of a previous incident reported to the police because of the daughter and her partner’s behaviour. But it could not provide any evidence that an incident had occurred, or was reported the police.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s role is to remedy injustice and share learning from investigations to help improve public, and adult social care, services.

In this case, BUPA has already apologised to the woman and has confirmed staff will now record when they have washed people’s hair. The council has already offered to apologise to the daughter for referring her back to BUPA instead of dealing with the complaint.

The council has agreed to apologise to the daughter for the failings in her mother’s care and for the failures of staff at the BUPA care home to respond to her initial complaints of poor care, including banning her and her partner from visiting without any due process.

It will pay the daughter £750 for the time and trouble of bringing the complaint and for the anxiety caused by her poor treatment and inability to advocate for her mother when she complained on her mother’s behalf.

The Ombudsman has the power to make recommendations to improve a council’s and care provider’s processes for the wider public. In this case the council has agreed to ask BUPA to review its policies and procedures to ensure care home staff check residents’ nutritional and continence needs on arrival.

The council will also review its own policies and procedures to ensure other service users who complain are not referred to a care provider where the council should deal with the complaint. It will also check that care providers with whom it has commissioning arrangements have written procedures for banning visits by relatives.

Article date: 23 May 2018

Nobili  interviene in merito ai contenuti di un esposto fatto pervenire all'Ufficio scolastico regionale da un cospicuo numero di studenti del Mannucci, dove viene messo in evidenza l’operato dell’attuale dirigente del liceo artistico. Previsti per i prossimi giorni un incontro con i ragazzi e l'attivazione del confronto con la stessa Dirigente.

“La scuola ha un ruolo determinante nell’educazione e nella formazione dei ragazzi ed è per tale motivo che ha il dovere di mettere in atto interventi e scelte idonei al raggiungimento degli obiettivi primari. Se risponde al vero quanto denunciano in questi giorni gli studenti del liceo artistico Mannucci di Ancona, allora è indispensabile che le istituzioni preposte intervengano celermente”. A parlare è il Garante dei diritti Andrea Nobili e la questione al centro del suo intervento è un esposto che un cospicuo gruppo di studenti ha fatto pervenire all’Ufficio scolastico regionale per mettere in evidenza l’operato dell’attuale dirigente del liceo artistico, cheporrebbe, a loro dire,  una seria ipoteca al normale svolgimento delle stesse attività scolastiche, negando confronto e dialogo. A supportare la protesta verrebbero rappresentate diverse situazioni limite come la decisione di gettare nella spazzatura opere di ex allievi e altro materiale, un non adeguato utilizzo dei laboratori, una interpretazione non consona del progetto di alternanza scuola – lavoro, contestazioni sull’abbigliamento degli studenti e tanto altro ancora. “Abbiamo già preso contatti con l’Ufficio scolastico regionale – fa presente Nobili - e quanto prima avremo anche un incontro con gli studenti per cercare di capire cosa stia realmente accadendo, come non mancheremo di attivare un confronto diretto con la dirigente scolastica. La scuola rappresenta uno dei più importanti presidi democratici del nostro Paese e proprio per questo va supportata, sostenuta e protetta”.

Un reciente informe de la Comisión de Nacional de Mercado y Competencia (CNMC) que analiza aspectos de las relaciones comerciales de las empresas de gas y electricidad con sus clientes recoge varias de las conclusiones recogidas en el estudio del Defensor del Pueblo “Protección de los consumidores vulnerables en materia de energía eléctrica”.

Publicado en mayo de 2017, el estudio del Defensor del Pueblo resaltaba, entre otras cuestiones, la falta de transparencia en la contratación y la existencia de prácticas comerciales agresivas y engañosas por parte de las comercializadoras, que llegan incluso a realizar cambios de compañía sin el consentimiento del afectado.

La Institución señalaba además que las personas mayores que viven solas son las más propensas a padecer este tipo de prácticas, por lo que se considera imprescindible aumentar la información que recibe el consumidor y mejorar la claridad de la factura eléctrica.

Además, el estudio incluía varias recomendaciones para mejorar la protección de los consumidores vulnerables. Muchas de ellas fueron tenidas en cuenta por el Gobierno al elaborar la nueva regulación del bono social eléctrico.

La Institución está haciendo un seguimiento sobre el cumplimiento de estas recomendaciones y mantiene abiertas varias actuaciones relacionadas con el mercado eléctrico.

Para este estudio, el Defensor del Pueblo organizó en marzo de 2017 unas jornadas en las que participaron administraciones públicas -entre ellas la CNMC-,  organizaciones de consumidores, compañías eléctricas y expertos en la materia.

El Justicia de Aragón, Ángel Dolado, ha realizado su primera visita institucional a la ciudad de Huesca en el día de hoy.


Ha sido recibido por el alcalde de la ciudad, Luis Felipe, así como por otros miembros de la corporación municipal en el Ayuntamiento a primera hora de la mañana.

Tras visitar varias estancias de este, especialmente el Salón del Justicia, ha firmado en el Libro de Honor del consistorio oscense.

En su escrito ha reflejado su satisfacción por la coincidencia de su primera visita a la ciudad desde que asumiera el cargo con la celebración de los éxitos de la Sociedad Deportiva Huesca.

Posteriormente ha podido departir con el alcalde y concejales oscenses sobre el estado de la ciudad, especialmente en la necesidad y trabajo que quiere desarrollar el ayuntamiento en materia de vivienda social.

El Justicia ha destacado la labor que desde la Institución ya se ha realizado en la provincia de Huesca, destacando la resolución sobre los contadores de agua de Jaca y los asuntos que en materia medioambiental se pueden llevar a cabo.

A continuación, ha estado presente en la inauguración del congreso y festival Diversario, donde ha intervenido en el acto subrayando el trabajo y relación continuo que la Institución tiene con las entidades que trabajan en el campo de las discapacidades o “diferentes capacidades” como ha querido reseñar.

Por último, invitado por el alcalde Luis Felipe, ha asistido a la recepción de la Ciudad a la Sociedad Deportiva Huesca con motivo de su ascenso a la primera división del futbol español.