A social worker did not inform a child’s parents about blood discovered during an assessment visit, according to a Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) report. 

The social worker claimed that they had informed the child’s mother of having seen a “bloody tissue” in the boys room, but the LGO investigation concluded that there were “discrepancies” in the social worker’s account. 

In November 2018, Wokingham Borough Council received four safeguarding referrals after the boy was reported missing and causing damage at home, which raised concerns about his safety. 

The council developed a safety plan, which involved home visits by the social worker to carry out an assessment of the situation. 

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During the assessment period, the child was admitted to hospital after self-harming with a “cutting blade”, however, the injury was not discovered until two days after the incident had occurred. 

The social worker had visited the boy the day after the injury but there were “no contemporaneous notes of the event” made and the mother is clear she was “not told” about the blood. 

On the day the boy was admitted to hospital, the social worker sent an email to the school to say they had seen tissues with “lots of fresh blood” on them and, as he had “caused significant harm”, would make a Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) referral. 

The LGO report states that there is “no record” of a CAMHS referral being made and “no evidence” any action was taken about the significant risk they perceived the boy to be in. 

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The case notes show that the social worker visited the boy at home after he was discharged from hospital and was able to remove his blade from the bedroom.  

The following day an email was sent to the boy’s parents from the social worker to say they had seen “bloodied sheets and blood stains on the carpet”.  

The mother claims she was not told about any blood in the bedroom when the social worker visited the day after the incident occurred, so was not aware of an injury.  

She subsequently initiated a complaint against the council, claiming it “failed to respond to an identified risk”.  

The LGO concluded that it is “likely” the mother would have sought treatment for the injury “had she known about it earlier” and “on the balance of probabilities” the social worker did not tell the boy’s parents about the blood. 

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The council has been forced to pay £1,200 in damages to the child’s mother for the “distress, frustration and uncertainty” caused during the complaint’s procedures and subsequent investigation. 

Council leader Clive Jones, said: “I would like to apologise again to [the mother] and her family on behalf of Wokingham Borough Council. Unfortunately, in this instance, our systems both in the work with the family and investigating and responding to the complaint did not meet the standards we set ourselves.  

“We are putting in measures to ensure this doesn’t happen again and have made restorative compensation as agreed.”