FORMAL COMPLAINT: FALSE & MISLEADING UNAUTHORISED CONTENT USED by JUDITH PROCTOR IN HER LEARNING DISABILITY NEWSLETTER JULY 2006 PUBLISHED BY NHS D&G and D&G COUNCIL

THIS EMAIL LETTER FROM ‘THE FRIENDS OF DUNMUIR PARK’ IS BEING SENT FOR THE IMMEDIATE ATTENTION AND ACTION  OF: MR J BURNS CHIEF EXECUTIVE NHS DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY  and  MR P JONES CHIEF EXECUTIVE DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY COUNCIL  It follows the formal complaint of 30^th June 2006

Because of the failure to act promptly, please will the Convener’s Office copy this second complaint letter to all 47 Members to identify to all Councillors of all parties the failure of the Council’s complaints procedure, which is not the publicly claimed “transparent check and balance” at all.  Complaints are ignored and delayed until any response becomes meaningless and useless, thus denying any proper accountability or redress for wrong actions.  We believe it is a disgrace and abuse of due process.  Please confirm this has been actioned.  Also  we request that the Convener responds to the Friends to advise on behalf of all Members what he and all other Members across all parties intend to do about this and other examples of the failure of the complaints process in order to bring the Officers properly and promptly to account with redress.  Or is it acceptable to all Members that proper and legitimate complaints are just ignored? 

Will the NHS please copy to all Members of the Board to identify the failure of the NHS and Joint Futures to manage complaints properly and fairly.   Please confirm this has been actioned. 

From:  The Chair  Mr W Bell  Friends of Dunmuir Park   c/o ‘Sarona’ 6 The Terrace Gelston DG7 1SN  Tel: 01556 502829

Attention of: : MR J BURNS CHIEF EXECUTIVE NHS DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY    MR P JONES CHIEF EXECUTIVE DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY COUNCIL  and the relevant responsible officers & managers

Date:    18^th July 2006

Dear Sirs 

IMMEDIATE RECALL AND SHREDDING OF LEARNING DISABILITY NEWSLETTER JULY 2006 PUBLISHED BY NHS D&G and D&G COUNCIL

FORMAL COMPLAINT                                                                                                             

I write once again in my official capacity as Chair of The Friends of Dunmuir Park (FDP),  being a Registered Charity for the past 26 years during which time more than £50,000 (Fifty Thousand pounds) has been raised by the local Castle Douglas community to directly benefit all residents of the highly successful and very highly regarded Dunmuir Park Care Home for vulnerable adults with learning disabilities. 

I wrote to you with a formal complaint in my letter of 30^th June, which has only been acknowledged, but not properly dealt with in any way.   I requested certain immediate and urgent action about this joint D&G & NHS ‘newsletter’ published in June.  Yet more than 2½ weeks later nothing has been done and clearly both organisations appear not prepared to do anything at all.  This is an unreasonable breach of proper process and an abuse of power, given that both organisations deliberately published this document in their joint names.  Moreover, we have now seen evidence under FoI of the extensive and multiple drafts of this document over many weeks clearly evidencing that it was not rushed and that proper prior consultation with us could and should have taken place at any time with us.  Put simply there is no possible excuse, especially since we note that earlier proposed drafts, written without consultation, were even more outrageous in the misuse of our name and position in this matter.  These ‘drafts’ were clearly later rejected but never advised to or discussed with us.   Please will you confirm what on earth is going on during your ‘internal’ meetings, which when later seen under FoI have an air of complete unreality. 

On behalf of the friends I write to record our extreme disappointment and anger that D&G Council and the NHS D&G should unilaterally decide not to carry out any of that requested action and have simply ignored what was said in my complaint.  Given the urgent nature of my complaint and the Council’s improper use of the good name of the Friends in a very misleading way in this ‘newsletter’, without consulting us in any way beforehand, we consider this to be wholly unreasonable and unacceptable.

Despite our complaint, The Friends have received  no formal apology or any form of explanation whatsoever.   Given the sensitivity and context of this situation this makes a mockery of D&G Council’s and the NHS D&G formal complaints processes and procedures. 

We look forward to hearing that you are publishing by way of an advertisement as well as any press release a full and detailed apology in both the Galloway News and Dumfries Standard this week adding further apologies for the delay and lack of any proper action to date.  We also request that this matter be fully and independently investigated by those not involved and that you take appropriate disciplinary action and issue a substantive report with the next 7 days, including an explanation of the various drafts now released under FoI that include extensive and inappropriate references to FDP. 

We also wish to point out that in our formal complaint letter we warned Officers about the possible ASSC situation saying, “Yet we understand in a recent internal “progress report” prepared for the ASSC there are further similar and significant misrepresentations that are likely to further mislead the Members concerned.  Perhaps you should now circulate a draft and invite additions and corrections and so avoid a repeat of a further complaint like this?”   Given the events of last week, perhaps Officers would consider how accurate and timely this comment and advice was; yet just like our complaint you have ignored it.  Please will you comment and reply to this specific point in your substantive report.  For if complaints were properly read and promptly actioned by Officers then other problems could be avoided, instead of matters being compounded by multiple failures.  We do not believe Officers are taking complaints seriously at all and look forward to hearing urgently.   

Yours faithfully.  W  Bell  Chair  Friends of Dunmuir Park