Man charged for care home stay after council provided no care package

Shropshire Council apologised for the impact of the delays

An elderly man was charged for staying in a care home because his local council could not provide him with a home care package.

Shropshire Council has been ordered by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) to re-calculate what was billed the man.

The patient, who has since died and is only identified as Mr N, stayed at the care home for three-and-a-half months in 2019.

The authority apologised to his family.

The watchdog said it caused "unnecessary distress" for Mr N and his family, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Due to a number of falls that required hospital admissions, Mr N first needed domiciliary care in 2018.

However, a contract which was finally agreed was terminated by the company after a few weeks.

By the end of that year, the council was again struggling to find a care provider and suggested he move temporarily into a care home, and what was a two-week placement was extended as it was "too busy" to find a home care provider, with Mr N returning home in April.

Following another hospital stay he was forced to stay there almost three months after being told there was no space for him in the previous home.

He moved into another care home in August 2019. By 1 September the council had found a domiciliary care provider, but was trying to negotiate a lower price before signing the contract and Mr N died in October.

As well as the recalculation, the LGO said the council should pay his daughter £200 to Miss N "as a symbolic acknowledgement of the impact of the uncertainty and distress likely to have been caused" by its identified faults.

Natalie McFall, the council's assistant director for adult social care, said she sincerely apologised for the impact the delay had.

She said it "recognised" the importance of sourcing the right care for people and was "committed" to enhancing access to domiciliary care.