A THURROCK Council committee will hear a mixture of good and bad news about performance levels within the authority's adult social care network.

The Health and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee meets tomorrow (Thursday, 1 September) and will be told complaints have nearly doubled over the last year.

The council received 53 complaints in 2021/22 compared to 28 in 2020/21, with 66 per cent of the complaints upheld following investigations.

Complaints received included a care worker who left bedroom lights , hob and a fan on, a user whose arm was injured when a showerhead fell on their arm and a user being cared for by male workers when they had specified they didn't want men looking after them.

The gripes also included a medication error, a family not being told their relative had become ill and allegations of missing property.

The Local Government and Social Care watchdog also become involved in two complaints. One, involving a person who was barred from seeing their mother during Covid, resulted in an order for a £200 "remedy" to be paid.

On the up side social care teams and services also received 99 compliments, with the Thurrock First care service attracting 26 messages of praise.

An unnamed user, highlighted in the report, said: "Thurrock First were an excellent starting point as we were introduced to other agencies via them. This is the first time in my life that I have used social services and I cannot thank everyone involved in mums care enough.

"Mum has gone through several health crises in under a year and the support provided was invaluable, both for mum and me."

The report to committee adds: "Learning from complaints and feedback provide the service with an opportunity to identify areas that can be improved. They provide a vital source of insight about people's experience of social care services. Upheld complaints are routinely analysed to determine themes and trends and services are responsible for implementing learning swiftly.

"All learning and key trends identified in the complaints and compliments reporting has a direct impact on the quality of service delivery and performance. The reporting ensures that valuable feedback received from service users and carers is captured effectively and regularly monitored with the primary focus on putting things right or highlighting and promoting where services are working well."