York Council claims over 50% of complaints answered within 5 days

…we don’t think so!

The Council has published its latest financial and performance update. It reveals that it could overspend this year’s budget by as much as £1.5 million. The expectation is that the Council will outturn on target.

A major source of complaint is paradoxically complaint handing. The Council claims to have answered “50% of complaints within 5 working days”.

Maybe!

….but we have a current instance of a complaint registered on 27th December 2018 which hasn’t even been acknowledged yet. The Council needs to improve its exception reporting systems and inject some fresh drive into its customer relationship processes.

Another key concern is the impact that the Council is having on delayed discharges (bed blocking) at the hospital. “The total number of days that patients resident in York have been delayed, for all reasons, during the last twelve months for which statistics have been published (November 17 – October 18) was 10,655 which equates to, on average, 29 beds each day occupied because of DToC across the health and social care system. From August to October 2018, this figure was 2,967 days which equates to 32 beds each day”. The Council says that the closure of two large nursing homes in the city has impacted on the ability of Adult Social Care to place patients quickly, as well as considerable pressures in both the residential and homecare markets.

The future of the Greenworks section of Yorkcraft has also never been properly explained. The Council is reducing the budget by a further £160,000 for adult social care workers, in supported employment, during the next financial year. So the future looks bleak for some of the workers who are a familiar sight as they deliver newsletters to various parts of the City.

Following the decision by the Council to suspend its housing modernisation programme the number of Council homes not meeting the decency standard has soared to 546.

It was zero two years ago

Work starts on providing additional parking spaces in Foxwood

At long last, work has started on providing additional parking spaces in the Spurr Court area.

However there is still no news on the other half a dozen lay-by schemes that are outstanding in the Thoresby Road, Dijon Avenue, Windsor Garth, Askham Lane  and Chapelfields areas.

The Council really should keep residents up to date with the progress being made.

Anti social behaviour on increase as Councillors and crime chief wrangle?

Local residents have raised concerns about an apparent increase in street level crime in the city.

Media reports wrangle over policing budget

The Foxwood Residents Association has pointed to incidents including attempted arson which happened last week while the police have issued a warning About vehicle crime in the Walker Drive area

Over the weekend the police had to invoke a “disposal order” on City centre streets following increased anti-social behaviour. An dispersal order, to leave an area, can be triggered by “any behaviour that is unacceptable including foul and abusive language causing alarm, distress and harassment to members of the public”

Meanwhile local Councillors are at logger heads about next year’s policing budget. They need to sort their differences out quickly. If more street level police are required – and they seem to be – then a recruitment campaign needs to start straight away.

Crime levels in Westfield more generally were stable during 2018. It is only during recent weeks that concerns have been raised about trends