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National Ombudsmen
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Ombudsman wants more carers to voice their concerns.
Julie Mellor, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, is urging more carers to come forward and express concerns and complaints about public services if they have had a raw deal.
At the start of Carers Week (10-16 June), which is highlighting the woeful lack of information and support for carers, she is calling for carers to voice their concerns if they are experiencing problems with public services. These could involve treatment by the NHS, difficulties with entitlement to benefits or employment-related issues.
“Our research shows that many people simply don’t know how to complain. But carers in particular face other barriers. They are often afraid to complain about poor services for fear of getting a worse service for those they look after.”
“We know from our casework that many carers experience frustration and despair when dealing with public services, whether they are complaining for themselves, or on behalf of the person they are caring for. We want complaining to be easier so that the lessons learned are fed back to organisations to help them improve their service to vulnerable people and those who care for them.”
“The work done by charities that support carers is so important and I hope that the publicity generated through Carers Week will help to give carers a stronger voice in public services.”
Notes to editor
- For media enquiries, contact the Ombudsman’s Press Office on 0300 061 4996/4272 or email press@ombudsman.org.uk. Out of hours press office mobiles 07825 781289 or 07887 833450.
- The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman was set up by Parliament to help both individuals and the general public. We are independent of the government and the NHS. The Ombudsman’s role is to investigate complaints that individuals have been treated unfairly or have received poor service from government departments, other public organisations and the NHS in England. The service is free to use and open to everyone.
- Case study
A 40 year-old woman worked full time but was caring for both her young son and her father who had a physical disability. When her father was in hospital his daughter was unhappy about the care he was receiving from the nurses. She tried to talk about this to a nurse who simply walked away. Eventually, she found written information which told her to put the complaint in writing to the hospital but was told that her complaint would be acknowledged within 28 days. “My father could have died in that amount of time,” she said. (This case study comes from focus group research carried out by the Ombudsman service) - Carers Week 2013 (#PreparedtoCare) runs from 10-16 June 2013. A survey released at the start of the week shows that 81% of carers said they were not aware of the support available and 35% believed they were given the wrong advice about the support on offer.
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