Preventing dissatisfaction escalating to a formal and costly complaint
When Angela contacted POhWER she had already made a formal complaint to the mental health trust about losing her community support worker without any explanation and she was asking for support in following the complaint through.
Angela had a community support worker for two days a week who gave her practical help in the home and helped her with her regular shopping. This was necessary as Angela has obsessive compulsive disorder; her home became cluttered to the point whereby it was unsafe and she would buy large amount of goods which she neither needed nor wanted.
Angela was referred to Dawn, who met her and discussed the reasons for the complaint with her. Dawn suggested that she arrange a meeting outside the complaints process with Angela’s social worker and, once it had been set up, helped her to prepare for it and attended it with her.
At the meeting Angela was able to explain the issues and to describe why she needed the support of a community care worker, she also outlined how her life had deteriorated since she no longer had the support she needed.
The social worker, who was new to Angela’s case, told her that the community care worker had said that her behaviour was unacceptable and that was why the support had been withdrawn.
Dawn suggested that a behaviour contract should be drawn up with Angela and the three of them worked on that at the meeting, with Angela agreeing to it at the close of the meeting. The social worker then agreed that the support she needed would be reinstated.
As a result, Angela withdrew her complaint to the mental health trust, saving the mental health trust considerable cost.
