Inspections and Reviews
In the year 2024/25 there were six external inspections of social care services, listed in the table below.
| Title | Audit Body | Date | Number of recommendations | Tabled at scrutiny |
| Llys Gogarth Inspection | CIW | April 2024 | 0 | Social Care Scrutiny 27/11/24 |
| Bron y Nant Inspection | CIW | April 2024 | 0 | Social Care Scrutiny 27/11/24 |
| Joint Inspection of Youth Justice in Conwy and Denbighshire | HMIP, CIW, Estyn | May 2024 | 7 recommendations across 5 broad themes | Social Care Scrutiny 17/07/24 |
| Llys Elian Inspection | CIW | Sept 2024 | 1 priority action 2 areas for improvement | tbc |
| Arrangements for commissioning services | Audit Wales | Nov 2024 | Final report not yet received | tbc |
| Inspection of Conwy Fostering Services | CIW | Nov 2024 | Final report not yet received | tbc |
Recommendations for improvements were made in the following reports
In May 2024, HMIP undertook a joint inspection of the Conwy and Denbighshire Youth Justice Service. This is a joint service covering both counties. The service was inspected and rated across three broad areas: the arrangements for organisational delivery of the service, the quality of work done with children sentenced by the courts, and the quality of out-of-court disposal work. The timing of this inspection was challenging, being in the middle of significant changes to the service. Despite this, the inspectors found a strong and knowledgeable leadership team who had been instrumental in working with staff to provide a service to children and young people.
The Inspectors reported that the team had achieved this, despite considerable staff shortages, whilst also implementing new policies and ways of working. The inspectors also found some positive examples of work being delivered with children and stated that this was a testament to the commitment and resilience of the leadership team and staff group. The Inspectors found that strategic leadership and governance of the service required considerable development and rated the service as “Requires Improvement”.
In September 2024, CIW Inspected Llys Elian, our residential care home for older people living with dementia. The inspector issued a priority notice around the arrangements at the home for medication management. A thorough review has taken place, and a number of improvements implemented at the home. CIW also noted two areas for improvement. One is around the outdoor space for residents at the home which was addressed immediately. The second was to review the staffing levels to ensure they are sufficient to meet the needs of the residents. This review has taken place with some changes made.
Complaints and representations
Everyone who makes a complaint about Social Services in Wales has a right to be listened to. Their views, wishes and feelings must be heard, and their concerns should be resolved quickly and effectively.
Complaints can highlight where services need changing. It is important that Local Authorities learn from complaints to identify where services should be changed and improved.
We believe that effective handling of complaints is a crucial part of our responsibilities, and a robust complaints handling system is a vital part of ensuring that individuals receive the services that they’re entitled to.
It enables us to:
- Acknowledge when mistakes have been made
- Put them right effectively and apologise where appropriate
- Ensure we learn lessons from complaints
The most common reasons for making a complaint are:
- Wanting to be heard
- Ensuring that concerns are recognised, acknowledged and taken seriously
- Ensuring that appropriate action is taken to remedy problems and avoid similar incidents in the future
- To receive an apology
During 2023/2024 we received 15 formal complaints. Nine of these were about Integrated Adults and Community Services and six about Children, Family and Safeguarding Services. The majority (7) were due to disagreements with actions that Social Services have taken, and the remainder due to a breakdown in working relationships, dissatisfaction with care provided, financial concerns, a lack of communication from the Social Worker, a lack of support provided, and dissatisfaction with the behaviour or attitude of a Social Worker.
It can be difficult to identify single themes in relation to Social Services complaints as many are complex in nature and include more than one element.
The graph below shows the downward trend in the number of complaints we receive year on year.
Complaints received between 2019 and 2024
Whilst we can see a decrease in formal complaints, we have however seen an increase in overall complaint activity. This includes other duties carried out by the Complaints Service such as signposting to other departments, partners or external agencies, referring cases to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, establishing that some complaints are not appropriate, or resolving them outside of the formal complaints process.
Key activity data
- During 2023/2024 we acknowledged all Stage 1 complaints (fourteen) by letter or e-mail within two working days.
- Eleven of those complaints were completed within the 15 working day timescale, and there were valid or unavoidable reasons for those that weren’t.
- Only one Stage 2 investigation was undertaken during the reporting year, and due to the complexity of the case, it wasn’t completed within the 25 working day timescale.
- Appointing Independent Investigators or Independent Persons to complete the Stage 2 investigation process cost £8,708.55, which is less than the previous financial year.
Lessons learnt
The most significant lessons resulting from complaints in the past year are:
- Understanding the pressure on staff members when dealing with persistent and vexatious complainants who often use derogatory language and an excessive level of emotive communication (we are working on offering more protection in the future)
- Undertaking learning and reflection events following complex Stage 2 Independent Investigations to improve future practice
- Sharing Conwy’s charging policy and leaflets with individuals in a timely manner and ensuring that they understand them
- Separating safeguarding concerns raised as part of larger complaints to avoid confusion and duplication of work
- Meeting face to face when trying to resolve complaints as this proves more successful than a written response
- Managing expectations about what the complaints process can and cannot achieve
Compliments
As well as complaints, we also receive many compliments from individuals receiving care and support, and their loved ones. Compliments are also regarded as important information that can be used to identify areas of good practice. We record them and report them to managers to pass on to staff as positive feedback.
During 2023/2024 we received 189 compliments in total: 172 for Integrated Adults and Community Services, and 17 for Children, Family and Safeguarding Services. This is an increase of 38 on the previous reporting year.
Here is a selection of the compliments that we received:
“A thank you from my heart for your amazing care for my Mum. You are all so lovely and caring. You gave me the wings to keep going and gave Mum so much help and made her laugh.”
Reablement Team, Llandudno
“To everyone at Llys Elian, a big thank you for helping and looking after ‘A’ over the last few months. She was in good hands and deep down she enjoyed her time with you all. You do a fantastic job and help where needed.”
Llys Elian EMI residential home
“I would just like to mention ‘B’ is a marvellous social worker. They remained very professional and at the same time I felt comfortable in telling them everything. A lot of which were difficult times in my past. I felt they never once judged me. They listened patiently and respectfully which made me feel better.”
Children Looked After Service
This is just a flavour of the complaints and compliments activity for the 2023/2024 period. The full annual report was submitted to the Governance and Audit Committee on 22 July 2024, and you’ll find it from page 83 onwards in the public document pack.