Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council completed Mr X’s care needs assessment. Further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mrs Y complained on behalf of her father, Mr X. She said the Council included inaccurate information in Mr X’s care needs assessment and failed to properly obtain his views. Mrs Y said that Mr X has a right to have a fair an accurate assessment. She believes the Council has not fully responded to her concerns in its complaint response.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement,
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Mrs Y complained to the Council after she received a copy of Mr X’s care needs assessment. She said the assessment contained Mr X’s views, but the Council had not met with him to get these. She also said Mr X had dementia and as Lasting Power of Attorney she needed to be included in any meeting around his care and support needs.
6. In the Council’s complaint responses, it explained it had sent her a draft copy of Mr X’s care needs assessment. It said it had prepopulated some information in that assessment ahead of a planned face-to-face meeting. It said that meeting was cancelled because Mrs Y was unwell. It subsequently completed a meeting virtually with the support of the care home. It accepted it should have met with her after that review to discuss the assessment however it had not affected the outcome of the assessment. The Council said it had provided Mrs Y a final amended assessment
7. We will not investigate Mrs Y’s complaint further. Although Mrs Y says the Council has failed to accurately record Mr X’s views in his assessment, there is no evidence that he has suffered a significant injustice or that his care and support needs are not met. In addition, the Council has issued an amended assessment. Although Mrs Y has unanswered questions of the Council, it is not the Ombudsman’s role to answer these. The Council has responded to her complaint and explained what happened. Further investigation by the Ombudsman would not lead to a different outcome.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mrs Y’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of injustice and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman