25 October 2022
Mr R came to us with concerns about how Hounslow Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) processed the CHC funding and Personal Health Budget (PHB) for his father, Mr Q. He complained that the CCG did not provide the correct level of care to meet Mr Q’s assessed needs. He also said it failed to regularly assess and update Mr Q’s care plan as his needs changed.
We found multiple failings in how the CCG administered Mr Q’s CHC plan. The CCG:
- did not assess Mr Q’s eligibility for CHC frequently enough, resulting in a lot of frustration for Mr R
- did not provide enough funding for the additional staff needed to support the live-in carer
- acknowledged that the live-in carer should have been paid annual uplifts, which they were not
- did not put an appropriate contingency plan in place for Mr Q when the live-in carer was unable to perform his duties.
We recommended that the CCG should:
- acknowledge its failings and the impact these had on Mr R
- apologise to Mr R for the distress caused by its failings
- consider how to address the issue of pay for the live-in carer
- produce a proposal setting out how it will take action to stop similar failings happening in future.