An Aberdeen care service has been ordered to apologise after sending an “inappropriate email” to the family of someone in supported accommodation.
Siblings of the tenant, who has only been identified as A, wrote to carers with suggestions about their support.
A response from the care manager at Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership was accidentally sent to the family.
And complaints were lodged by the siblings amid concerns the manager appeared to instruct carers to “withhold information” about A’s care.
Failure to respond to complaints
The family of A made suggestions about their care following “incidents” between them and other individuals.
One sibling, identified as B, e-mailed carers to make suggestions, which were responded to by the team.
The care manager subsequently responded to the carers’ remarks but “accidentally” sent it to B.
An investigation report from the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) reports B considered the care manager’s e-mail to be “instructing” A’s carers to “withhold information”.
A subsequent e-mail from B to complain about the comments was not responded to by either the care manager or anyone else at Aberdeen City HSCP.
Defence of ‘inappropriate’ e-mail’s contents
Another sibling of A, identified as C, then complained to Aberdeen City HSCP about their failure to reply.
In their response, the partnership did not uphold the complaint about the contents of the care manager’s e-mail – but did agree B should have received a response to their concerns.
However, an investigation by SPSO officials has concluded the e-mail was “inappropriate”.
The decision report states: “We took independent advice from a social work adviser.
“We found that the content of the care manager’s email was inappropriate. We considered that the email encouraged A’s carers to reduce the amount of information provided to B, specifically to reduce their feedback about A’s care.
“We also considered that the partnership had failed to adequately investigate B’s and C’s complaint. Therefore, we upheld these complaints.”
Ordered to handover any withheld information
The SPSO has ordered Aberdeen City HSCP to apologise to B and C separately for the “inappropriate” e-mail sent by the care manager.
Officials have also been told to say sorry for providing “inaccurate information” in their previous apology and for suggesting it was B’s and C’s responsibility to ensure they get responses to issues they raise.
The decision report adds: “The partnership should investigate if any information about A that should have been shared with B has been withheld and, if so, share this with B.”
A spokeswoman for Aberdeen City HSCP said: “We have accepted the findings of the SPSO review and will be actioning the recommendations.”