1 THE ISSUE

1.1 Following an individual complaint and case investigation in December 2007 the Local Government Ombudsman recommended a number of actions including that Bath and North East Somerset Council review its Mental Health Act 1983 s.117 (After-care) policy. This has now been carried out and the renewed policy needs to be adopted and implemented.

2 RECOMMENDATION

The Cabinet member is asked to agree that:

2.1 The renewed Mental Health Act 1983 s.117 (After-care) Policy can be adopted by Bath and North East Somerset Council.

2.2 The actions taken by Bath and North East Somerset Council in response to the Ombudsman's Report are sufficient and appropriate

3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

3.1 The financial implications are that any individual service user deemed to be entitled to s.117 (After-care) cannot be financially charged by Bath and North East Somerset Council for any service they receive under these provisions. It is likely following the implementation of this renewed policy that there may be fewer individuals discharged from these provisions and therefore the costs of s.117 (After-care) will remain with the Council for longer periods of time.

3.2 The reimbursement of individuals as a result of this review has taken place and was met within the 2007/08 budget.

4 THE REPORT

4.1 In response to an individual service user complaint about Bath and North East Somerset Council's application of the Mental Health Act 1983 Section 117(After-care) Policy, the Local Government Ombudsman investigated and reported their findings, judgement and recommendations on 12-12-07. The Ombudsman judged that the Council had maldministered its application of Mental Health Act 1983 Section 117 (After-care) Policy. In particular the Ombudsman found that the Council had adopted flawed discharge criteria, which it had used to determine that the individual complainant should be discharged from their entitlement to Section 117 (After-care). The Ombudsman recommended that Bath and North East Somerset Council reimburse the individual service user for any costs associated with the maladministration; that it review its Section 117 Policy and review another 10 other individual cases which, may also have been wrongly financially charged for services following their possible inappropriate discharge from Section 117 (After-care) entitlement.

The following actions have been carried out by Bath and North East Somerset Council as a result of the Ombudsman's investigations, findings, judgement and recommendations.

• Bath and North East Somerset Council continued to pay the Nursing Home fees for the individual service user mentioned above until their complaint had been fully investigated. Therefore, following the Ombudsman's investigations, findings and recommendations, and the Councils' acceptance of them, the individual concerned never had to pay their Nursing Home fees. In addition, the Council following the Ombudsman's judgement paid the individual's legal fees which led to the challenge of the decision to discharge from Section 117 (After-care) in the first place.
  
• in order to prevent any further inappropriate discharges from s.117 (After-care), the guidance received from an independent legal advisor in order to improve the discharge criteria and procedures relating to s.117 (After-care) was immediately incorporated into the previous policy
  
• no patient diagnosed with dementia has been discharged from s.117 (After-care) following the Ombudsman's judgement and recommendations
  
• the 10 cases referred to in the Ombudsman's report have been reviewed and reimbursed where appropriate
  
• the entire s.117 (After-care) policy has been reviewed jointly by the partnership organisations responsible for its application
  
• a renewed s.117 (After-care) policy (attached) is ready for adoption and implementation

5 RISK MANAGEMENT

5.1 The report author and Cabinet member have fully reviewed the risk assessment related to the issue and recommendations, in compliance with the Council's decision making risk management guidance.

6 RATIONALE

6.1 Due to more robust decision making criteria contained in it for all staff considering discharge from entitlement to s.117 (After-care), the renewed s.117 (After-care) policy will be less vulnerable to any future challenge. Given that the renewed policy is also shared by the partnership organisations who share responsibilities for its application it is less likely to be inconsistently applied.

7 OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED

7.1 The option of continuing with the flawed policy would leave the Council vulnerable to further successful challenge.

8 CONSULTATION

8.1 Local Stakeholders/Partners; Section 151 Finance Officer; Monitoring Officer

8.2 An equality impact assessment will be carried out prior to implementation of the policy in full.

8.3 Customer Focus; Other Legal Considerations

9 ADVICE SOUGHT

9.1 The Council's Monitoring Officer (Council Solicitor) and Section 151 Officer (Strategic Director - Support Services) have had the opportunity to input to this report and have cleared it for publication.

 

Contact person	Stephen Meredew 01225-477857
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