Summary: Miss B complained on behalf of her late grandmother. She said the Council did not respond appropriately when the family asked for assistance with care and support. She believed that as a result Mrs X remained at home without the support she needed, had a fall which led to her admission to hospital. There was fault which caused injustice to Mrs X and the rest of the family. The Council will apologise and make a payment.

The complaint

1. I will call the complainant Miss B. She complained on behalf of her late grandmother (Mrs X). She said the Council did not respond appropriately when the family asked for assistance with care and support for Mrs X. She believed that as a result Mrs X remained at home without the support she needed, had a fall which led to her admission to hospital.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the complaint and documents provided by Miss B and spoke to her I asked the Council to comment on the complaint and provide information. I sent a draft of this statement to Miss B and the Council and considered their comments.

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What I found

Summary of the relevant law, guidance and good practice

5. Sections 9 and 10 of the Care Act 2014 require local authorities to carry out an assessment for any adult with an appearance of need for care and support. They must provide an assessment to all people regardless of their finances or whether the local authority thinks an individual has eligible needs. The assessment must be of the adult’s needs and how they impact on their wellbeing and the results they want to achieve. It must also involve the individual and where suitable their carer or any other person they might want involved.
6. The Council must carry out the assessment over a suitable and reasonable timescale considering the urgency of needs and any variation in those needs. Local authorities should tell the individual when their assessment will take place and keep the person informed throughout the assessment.

What happened

7. Mrs X was elderly and living alone at home with support from family and a neighbour. In early November Mrs X’s daughter, Mrs Y, approached the Council at first to try to get assistance in getting a COVID-19 test for Mrs X. This was because a spell in residential care was being considered and a negative test was needed.
8. An officer then spoke to Mrs Y and Mrs X’s neighbour who was involved in providing some support to her. The officer’s notes of her conversation with the neighbour record that she intended to request approval for a home visit to Mrs X. There is no record that happened and then a month later Mrs X fell and went into hospital.
9. Mrs X was discharged from hospital at the end of December to short-term residential care. Mrs X died at the beginning of March.
10. The family complained to the Council in December just after Mrs X had gone into hospital. The Council responded a month later.

Analysis

11. The Council has accepted fault in not carrying out a full assessment of Mrs X’s needs and in poor communication with the family. Miss B says that when the family approached for help the issue was getting a COVID-19 test. They considered the delay by the Council meant Mrs X changed her mind about a planned temporary residential stay. Had that not happened the fall which led to admission to hospital may have been avoided.
12. I agree there was fault in how the Council handled this but I cannot come to a firm conclusion about what would have happened if there had been no fault. I can see no basis on which the Council could have done anything to access a COVID-19 test for the family. Moreover, the notes of the approach from the family refer to a request for assistance with residential care for Mrs X so the Council did then need to carry out an assessment which would have taken some time. Even had there been no delay it was possible Mrs X would have changed her mind about whether she wanted to go into residential care.
13. But the delay and failure to update the family after the contact in mid-November made it harder for the family to plan and to talk to Mrs X about what options there might be for her care.
14. In the complaint to the Council Miss B said this was a safeguarding matter and that the Council had failed to treat it as such. The Council’s records show Miss B’s contact was recorded as a safeguarding issue but there is no record of any further action. That is fault. Nor did the Council’s response to the complaint address this point which it should. But this was not a safeguarding matter. The complaint was how the Council had discharged its duties to Mrs X and her family in terms of her adult care needs. By the time the safeguarding issue was raised Mrs X was in hospital so she was not at risk of abuse or neglect.

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Agreed action

15. The Council will apologise to the family for the faults found and should pay Miss B £200 in recognition of the distress these failings caused. It will do so within one month of the final decision.

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Final decision

16. There was fault which caused injustice to Mrs X and the rest of the family.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman