A report to the Council’s Standards Committee shows that the number of complaints rocketed from 532 in 2006-07 to 847 in 2007-08. This is an increase of nearly 60%. There was little change in the number of complaints in the year before that.
The bulk of the increase appears to be in Adult & Community Services, which covers social care and libraries.
Cllr John Marshall, Lib Dem spokesperson, commented:
“Alarm bells should be ringing at County Hall. A 60% rise in complaints should be a cause for concern for any organisation. Most worrying is the rise in complaints about adult & community services, which have more than doubled.”
Cllr Marshall, from Harrogate, added:
“When the Standards Committee meets next week I will be asking what has gone wrong and what is to be done about it. The Conservative bosses at County Hall really need to give this their full attention.”
As long as Avalon are paid to provide inadequate care and NYCC care managers and their superiors refuse to act on criticism of Avalon, complaints will continue.
Hopefully no one will be harmed.