Council must apologise to mother over son’s death

Aberdeen City Council has been told to apologise to a woman whose son starved to death while in the care of health and social workers.

Alex Young, 49, who was an alcoholic and suffered mental health problems, died in hospital three years ago.

The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) has found his mother was denied a proper chance to raise “concerns” about the quality of help he received.

Greta Young, 71, wrote to the SPSO after complaining to the council about the care her son received when living at Wallace House tenement block in Hazlehead.

At the time of his death in September 2006 he was under the care of a mental health team made up of staff from both the council and NHS Grampian.

Mrs Young says that when she tried to complain to the council’s social work complaints review committee, following his death, she was told that the case did not fall within their remit. The SPSO has recommended that the council apologises and updates its procedures in an official report issued this week.

Mrs Young, of Hazlehead Terrace, Aberdeen, said: “This may help stop the same thing from happening again but it doesn’t bring closure for me. By the time my son died he was deaf and mute – it was the most awful death. It was just an absolute nightmare and I still want justice for my son.”

In the report, the Ombudsman expresses “concerns” about how the council’s decisions were reported and explained. The report found that the council “did not take adequate steps” to work with the NHS in responding to Mrs Young’s complaints and should “apologise” to her for the “failure”. It recommends that the council works closely with the NHS on all such future complaints, in order to address the “deficiency”.

A council spokesman said: “We will be apologising to the person concerned direct.”