A Richmond mum has won £900 after a watchdog slammed "failings in communication" between a local council and NHS board about care for her disabled son.

The mum, named Mrs B in the report, complained about NHS South West London ICB and Richmond Council's funding of her son's care. She told the Local Government Ombudsman the family "lost out financially as her husband had to reduce his working hours to provide more support at home".

Mrs B's son, referred to only as F, has cerebral palsy and complex care needs and needs 24-hour monitoring.

The ombudsman found "failings in communication" between the ICB and council which "impacted on how they assessed and decided on funding for care and support for F and his family", along with a "lack of agreement about who had responsibility for commissioning and funding some parts of F's continuing care package".

At a court hearing in April 2019, the council and judge agreed the parents needed seven nights of healthcare support instead of six. The council agreed to pay for one night of support from a healthcare assistant, topped up by the ICB, along with six hours of short break support he was already getting. F was already receiving 52 hours per week of NHS children's continuing care support.

The ICB decided the continuing care package should be increased to 56 hours per week in January 2020. Mrs B asked the council's short breaks panel for an extra 10 hours of support per week in April 2020. She said the family "could not use the six hours short break for respite as they had no other way of extending F's night-time care to get the sleep they needed to care for him during the day and to work," the report added.

The council declined the request in June 2020 but increased the short break provision to 12 hours per week that October.

The report said: "The ICB and council have not worked together to consider F and his family's care and support needs in a holistic and effective way. The evidence also suggests the council may have factored in the payment for the overnight care when deciding about the short break/respite care, despite saying this is not the case."

It added: "I cannot say whether the ICB or council would have made different decisions about the number of continuing care hours and the respite/short break care if they had acted without fault. However, this is a significant area of concern.

"Mrs B, her social worker and health professionals repeatedly raised concerns about the strain on Mrs B and her husband because of the amount of night care and respite care available and their level of caring responsibility as well as their need to work."

The council and ICB have agreed to apologise and pay Mrs B £900, split equally, along with providing an action plan with details of a review of their continuing care procedures. The ICB has agreed to review F's care with Wandsworth Council, as the family moved there.

A spokesperson for Richmond Council said: "We are working closely with the ICB to deliver the recommendations and actions outlined by the ombudsman." NHS South West London ICB has been contacted for comment.

A spokesperson for the NHS in Richmond said: "Our priority is to provide the best care possible for residents in Richmond – we accept recommendations made in the report and sincerely apologise for the distress that this must have caused Mrs B and her son. We are working closely with the local council and the ombudsman to ensure the right care and support is in place to meet her son's needs and the other recommendations are met."