Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about care the Council provided to Mrs X’s mother after she suffered a fall. This is because the Council has agreed to provide a co-ordinated response to Mrs X’s complaint with the relevant NHS Trust and there is nothing further an investigation could achieve at this point.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains on behalf of her mother, Mrs Y. Mrs X says her mother has received poor care since suffering a fall. She says Mrs Y used to be active but following a number of placements in hospitals and care homes she is now bed bound and incontinent.
2. Mrs X says she and her mother have found the whole experience incredibly distressing and her mother has lost her independence.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

6. Mrs X’s complaints cover both the actions of the Council and local NHS Trust.
7. The Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009 say social care and health bodies should co-operate when responding to complaints where "it appears to the first body that the complaint contains material which, if it had been sent to another responsible body (“the second body”), would be a complaint which would fall to be handled in accordance with these Regulations by the second body." (The Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009, regulation 9)
8. In the Council’s response it identified that parts of the care Mrs Y received were delivered by the NHS Trust which runs the hospital where she stayed for a period. This includes physiotherapy. However, the Council did not arrange a co-ordinated complaint response with the NHS Trust. This is fault.
9. The Council has now agreed to arrange to provide Mrs X and Mrs Y with a co-ordinated response to the complaint with the relevant NHS Trust. This is a suitable remedy in the circumstances of this complaint and so we will not investigate if further at this point.
10. If Mrs X and Mrs Y are unhappy with the outcome of the co-ordinated response to the complaint they may raise a complaint with either the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman or the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

Back to top

Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the Council has agreed to provide a co-ordinated response to the complaint with the relevant NHS Trust. This is a suitable remedy and there is nothing more we could achieve at this point from an investigation.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman