Information & advice

Mediation cases

1.  Disruptive behaviour

2. Resident forced to leave

3.  Neighbour Noise

4.  Learning from tragedy

1.  Disruptive behaviour

AIMS was contacted by a housing association and was advised that one of their elderly residents had begun to behave in a very disruptive manner.  She was threatening other residents and had become both verbally and physically abusive.  The Housing Association thought that it was likely that the behaviour was being caused by the resident’s developing dementia.  The only family member was a brother who was also a resident at the scheme.  The deteriorating health of the resident and the effect of her behaviour on other residents (some are too frightened to leave their flats) meant that the scheme was no longer an appropriate place for the resident.  She could not obtain the level of care and support she required unless she moved.    The resident had been offered assistance in locating other more suitable alternative accommodation, but she was adamant she wanted to stay and was refusing to consider moving.

AIMS mediated. In mediation the resident gave her account of the events leading up to the mediation.  She shared her concerns about her health and acknowledged that her needs might be better met elsewhere.  She expressed concern about leaving her brother and revealed that this was the main reason she did not want to move.  The resident was assured she would be welcome to return as a visitor whenever she wished.  The mediation agreement reached recorded the residents wish to move to a named residential care home, with the landlord facilitating the move.  It placed on record that the resident had been a well respected and valued member of the scheme.  The mediation process left the resident feeling able to move to the residential care home without feeling that she was abandoning her brother and also allowing her to retain her dignity and sense of pride.
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2. Resident forced to leave

Two residents had been making continual complaints about another resident. The complaints included noise nuisance, offensive language and intimidating behaviour. The Housing Association eventually contacted AIMS to request the use of the mediation service.  The campaign by the two residents had already resulted in the other resident being unofficially banned from the communal lounge. This created a bad atmosphere throughout the whole scheme and many residents were so distressed they were asking for transfers.  AIMS arranged a group mediation to enable all of the parties to express their views.  As a result, all parties were eventually able to acknowledge and accept some responsibility.  Sadly however, relationships had deteriorated to the point where the only realistic solution was an urgent transfer for the resident.
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3.  Neighbour Noise

A resident complained about noise disturbance from an upstairs neighbour.  The scheme was a mixed general needs scheme with housing for wheelchair users and the elderly mixed in.  The resident complained that she was not aware when she moved in that she could have families as neighbours.  Recently a family had moved in upstairs.  The children ran around indoors and rode tricycles on uncarpeted floors.  The noise caused was very disturbing.  The upstairs family were aware of noise being transferred and had been making an effort – the children are made to remove their shoes before coming into the flat and they are constantly  told to keep quiet.  The family was constantly being visited by the housing officer to talk about the noise problem.  This was making them more and more anxious about the restrictions being placed on them.

Mediation was conducted by AIMS – full exchange of views by each party, which established an underlying issue of conflicting lifestyles.  Family volunteered to carpet their floor, landlord also agreed to look at soundproofing if carpeting didn’t work.  Both parties were grateful for the process – enabled them to understand the issue from a different perspective.  Relationships improved to the point where they have had shared meals, and the children often visit the downstairs flat.
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4.  Learning from tragedy

AIMS was called by a manager faced with a terrible situation.  A resident had passed away, due to a heart attack, but had not been found for almost a week.  The resident’s son was considering all manner of action, but when contacted by AIMS, agreed to come to mediation.   At the mediation it was apparent that the son’s grief and upset was increased by feelings of guilt about not having contacted his father.  On the part of the sheltered housing provider, it was acknowledged that a serious failure had occurred.  Both parties agreed it was of paramount importance to ensure such a situation was not able to happen again in the future.  It was agreed that the son would help contribute to future policies to prevent reoccurrence of the situation for others.  Using mediation enabled both parties to acknowledge their own feelings of guilt and work together towards a resolution in an informal, confidential setting.  The prompt action by the manager prevented a tragedy from becoming a public crisis.
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To contact AIMS:

Address:
AIMS
Age Concern England
Astral House
1268 London Road
London SW16  4ER

Telephone:
020 8765 7465

Lo-call helpline:
0845 600 2001
(open 9.30am-4.30pm
Mon-Fri)

Email:
AIMS