We always aim to provide a high standard of care in all our services. Our Service Users’ views are important to us and help to ensure our services are consistently meeting people’s needs. If you are unhappy with any of our services, it is important that you let us know.
If a complaint alerts us to possible abuse or neglect, we will tell the Lancashire County Council Adult Safeguarding Team. The Lancashire County Council Safeguarding Team will decide how to investigate and monitor outcomes.
How to Tell us what we need to Improve
Often people feel more comfortable about suggesting improvements rather than complaining formally. Anyone receiving services, and their friends or family, can tell us how we can improve. First you should speak to Julie Murray, the Registered Manager, or the Branch Manager.
If the suggestion is something that Specialist Care Team, as a company, needs to consider, you can send it to using the contact form below, via post to: Specialist Care Team, 28 Northumberland St, Morecambe, LA4 4AY, or give us a call: 01524 401 200.
Complaints Process
Complaints are handled in accordance with Specialist Care Teams Complaints Procedure. In the first instance, complaints should be raised directly with the service provider.
Stage 1 - Contact Specialist Care Team to raise the complaint
Stage 2 - Complaint to commissioner of the service if you are unhappy with Specialist Care Teams response
Stage 3 - Complain to Local Government Ombudsman if you are unhappy with the commissioners response
Making a Complaint
Specialist Care Team aims to handle complaints quickly, effectively and in a fair and honest way. We take all complaints seriously and use valuable information from investigating to help us improve the service we provide. We treat all complaints confidentially.
Specialist Care Team assures clients and their families that it will not withdraw or reduce services because someone makes a complaint in good faith.
Who Can Complain?
Anyone affected by the way Specialist Care Team provides services can make a complaint. A representative may complain about the affected person if they:
• Have died • Cannot make a complaint themselves, or • Have given consent for the representative to act on their behalf
If you are not happy about making a complaint yourself and you do not know someone who can talk or write to us on your behalf, we will be happy to find someone from an independent organisation to act as an advocate for you.
How You Can Make A Complaint
You can complain: • In person • By telephone • By letter • By email • Through a member of our staff •Through an advocate or representative
We will acknowledge all complaints, whether verbally or in writing, within 3 working days.
Anonymous Complaints
We deal with anonymous complaints under the same procedure. However, it is better if you can provide contact details, so we can tell you the outcome of our investigation.
Responsibility
Julie Murray has overall responsibility for dealing with all complaints made about their service. We will provide, as far as is reasonably practical:
• Any help you need to understand the complaints procedure; or • Advice on where you may get that help
How we Handle Complaints
Julie Murray may ask one of the management team to investigate the complaint. That person will have enough seniority and experience to deal with the issues raised by the complainant.
We will acknowledge a complaint within 3 working days and give you the name and contact details of the person investigating it.
We will keep you informed about the progress of the investigation. We aim to have all complaints finished within 28 working days unless we agree to a different time scale with you.
When we have finished investigating, we will arrange to meet with you to discuss the outcome, and write to you with:
• Details of the findings • Any action we have taken • Our proposals to resolve your complaint
Time Limits
You should complain as soon as you can after the date on which the event occurred or came to your notice. If you complain more than twelve months later, we may not be able to investigate properly. But we shall also consider whether you had a good reason for not making the complaint sooner and whether, despite the delay, it is still possible to investigate the complaint effectively and fairly.
Further Steps
At any stage during the process, if you are not happy with the way the service is dealing with your complaint you can contact Julie Murray via this website, or at:
Specialist Care Team 28 Northumberland St Morecambe LA4 4AY
01524 401200
Ifyou are unhappy with the response from Specialist Care Team, or you do not feel able to contact them directly about your complaint
Stage 2: Complaints to Lancashire County Council
If the problem can't be dealt with by talking to Specialist Care Team, then you may wish to make a complaint to the County Council. You can do this in several ways:
You can send feedback using the County Councils 'Your Views Count' leaflet.
You can make a complaint on-line via the County Council's website: www.lancashire.gov.uk
If you are not satisfied with the commissioner's response to your complaint, you can complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman who is completely independent of Lancashire County Council and Integrated Commissioning Board.
Although the Ombudsman can investigate complaints about what the authority has done (or not done), they cannot question what the authority has done simply because someone does not agree with it.
