Slough Borough Council have been forced to apologise to a family that was left without adequate support.

The complainant, Mrs X said the Council did not ensure suitable home care was in place for her husband Mr X who suffers with dementia.

In 2019 the Council assessed Mr X and commissioned a home care package to meet his needs, a year later in 2020 he was re-assessed again and home care visits were increased.

Over the course of 2019 and 2020, Mr X had received care from nine different care providers because Mrs X was 'not satisfied' with the care provided.

The providers said they could not meet her expectations.

A new care provider was issued in February 2021 which Mrs X repeatedly raised concerns with and by August 2021 the care provider said it was struggling to fulfil the agreed contract as many of its care staff refused to visit due to Mrs X’s behaviour.

After several more care providers failing to meet Mrs X's requirements, the council said Mrs X would need to arrange the care herself using direct payments.

Not long after, Mrs X asked the council to begin care again as she did not wish to use direct payments, but the council failed to find a replacment.

A fifth care provider was introduced which Mrs X raised concerns about in mid February and Mr X was admitted to hospital.

During his time in hospital, Mrs X said the council had: "Forced her to use direct payments to arrange Mr X’s care when she did not want to and failed to support her to resolve the issues she reported about Care Provider 5."

Upon Mr X's discharge from hospital in mid-March 2022 Care Provider 5 ended its services at Mrs X’s request.

Another complaint to the council was made and a request to commission a new care provider.

After a two-month gap where Mr X did not have care in place, the Council responded to Mrs X’s complaints in early-May 2022.

It said it “strongly recommended” Mrs X should arrange Mr X’s care herself using direct payments.

Mrs X did not want to, so a week later the Council commissioned care from Care Provider 6, which Mrs X raised concerns with the Council about.

Care Provider 6 reported to the Council it was “having issues with [Mrs X’s] behaviour”. It described her behaviour as bullying and said she was verbally and physically abusive towards its care staff.

Mrs X complained to the Ombudsman in mid-July 2022. The issues between Mrs X and Care Provider 6 continued and the care ended in early-August 2022.

After a two-week gap where Mr X did not have care in place, he was admitted to hospital in late-August 2022 where he remained until late-October 2022.

After Mr X was discharged from hospital in October 2022, Mrs X arranged care from a new provider using direct payments, which lasted two weeks before the provider cancelled.

The Council then commissioned care from two further providers consecutively. Mr X went back into hospital for six weeks at the end of 2022.

After he was discharged from hospital in January 2023, the Council commissioned a new provider, which he is still receiving home care from.

The Local Care and Social Care Ombudsman said: "There was fault by the Council, and Care Provider 6 acting on its behalf, which caused avoidable distress to Mr and Mrs X and put Mr X at risk of harm.

"The Council agreed to our recommendations to remedy this injustice. It will also issue reminders to its staff, share our decision with Care Provider 6, and consider the faults identified if it works with Care Provider 6 in the future."