Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the placement of Mrs Y’s room in a care home. We could not come to sound conclusions about the care provider’s actions and whether Mrs Y experienced injustice due to the placement of her room. We could not achieve a meaningful remedy for Mr X.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the room allocated to his now-deceased mother, Mrs Y. He says the care provider lied to him about Mrs Y being moved to a quiet room. She became irritable and tired, and experienced headaches due to the distress of being placed in a noisy room, but Mr X was not aware she was in a noisy room until he was allowed to visit her at the end of her life. Mr X says the noise levels were the cause of Mrs Y’s stroke and death. He wants two members of staff from the care home to be charged and trialled in a criminal court

Back to top

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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

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

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

Back to top

My assessment

5. Mr X says he discussed Mrs Y’s needs for a quiet room with the care provider when it was moving Mrs Y to the nursing section of its home from the care section. This was during the COVID-19 pandemic and Mr X was not able to visit Mrs Y’s room himself. He says two members of staff at the care home gave him assurances Mrs Y’s room was in a quiet location.
6. Mrs Y was considered to be at the end of her life in late 2021, and so Mr X was allowed to visit her in her room. Mr X says it was at this time he found out his mother’s room was in a noisy location in the home. He considers this would have caused her significant distress and he says this was the cause of her stroke and ultimate death.
7. We could not come to sound conclusions about what assurances the care provider gave Mr X, and what noise levels Mrs Y experienced in her room. We could not say the noise levels caused Mrs Y's stroke and her death as Mr X asserts. We also could not provide the outcome Mr X seeks. We could not provide a meaningful outcome for Mr X if we investigated this complaint.

Back to top

Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we could not come to sound conclusions about fault and injustice, nor could we provide a meaningful outcome for Mr X.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman