Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council discharged Miss X’s mother from a care home. This is because we cannot say that the actions of the directly led to her contracting Covid-19. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint about her mother’s capacity to make decisions about her own welfare as this matter has already been to court.

The complaint

1. Miss X says the Council wrongly diagnosed her mother as having dementia.
   Miss X says she had to take legal action in court to show her mother had capacity to make her own decisions.
2. Miss X complains the Council delayed producing a care plan for her mother which meant she could not leave residential care and return to her own home. Miss X says her mother contracted Covid-19 in the care home and passed away before she could move back to her home.

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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 we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
4. The courts have said that where someone has used their right of appeal, reference or review or remedy by way of proceedings in any court of law, the Ombudsman has no jurisdiction to investigate. This is the case even if the appeal did not or could not provide a complete remedy for all the injustice claimed. (R v The Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte PH (1999) EHCA Civ 916)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s decision that her mother was unable to make decisions for herself. This is because the matter has already been to court.
8. We cannot say that Miss X’s mother would not have contracted Covid-19 if she had been moved from the care home sooner following the outcome of the court case. Covid-19 is a highly contagious virus which has spread amongst the general population. Therefore, we will not investigate this complaint as there is nothing we could meaningfully achieve.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because part of the complaint has already been to court. We will not investigate the way the Council arranged
   Miss X’s mother’s discharge from the care home as we cannot achieve any meaningful outcome from an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman