Summary: The Ombudsman has discontinued his investigation of this complaint, about standards of care, professional boundaries and the handling of the complainant’s money, because the Care Provider has agreed to review its own investigation.

The complaint

1. I will refer to the complainant as Mrs T. She is represented in her complaint by her daughters, to whom I will refer as Mrs W and Miss T.
2. Mrs T was in receipt of a domiciliary care service. Mrs W complains a carer did not complete the tasks she was assigned to do. She also complains the carer crossed professional boundaries, accepting gifts from Mrs T, and failing to properly handle money given to her for shopping for Mrs T.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about adult social care providers and decide whether their actions have caused an injustice, or could have caused injustice, to the person making the complaint. I have used the term fault to describe such actions. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 34B and 34C)
4. We investigate complaints about adult social care providers. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 34B(8) and (9))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I reviewed Mrs W’s correspondence with the Care Provider.
6. I also sent a draft copy of this decision to each party for their comments.

Back to top

What I found

7. On 14 September 2018, Mrs W called the Care Provider to register her concerns with the carer. A manager agreed to attend a meeting at Mrs T’s home on 17 September.
8. After the meeting, the manager wrote a complaint form, detailing Mrs W’s concerns about the carer. Mrs W said the carer was neglecting tasks on Mrs T’s care plan, and had wrongly accepted a gift from her. She also said the carer had been buying items for herself with Mrs T’s money, given to her to go shopping for Mrs T, and had not returned leftover cash after a shopping trip.
9. Mrs W said she believed the carer was acting more as a friend to Mrs T than as a professional, and had been taking advantage of her. She asked the Care Provider to remove the carer from working with Mrs T.
10. The manager noted that this was a safeguarding matter, and alerted the local authority. The Care Provider subsequently undertook a disciplinary investigation of the carer.
11. In January 2019, Miss T contacted the Care Provider to chase up their complaint response. A different manager replied to state she was under the impression the matter had been resolved.
12. On 5 February, Mrs W referred the complaint to the Ombudsman.

Back to top

Analysis

13. The Care Provider responded quickly to Mrs W’s initial complaint, made a safeguarding referral and undertook a disciplinary investigation of the carer. I cannot disclose the outcome of the investigation, but I am satisfied the Care Provider took Mrs W’s concerns seriously.
14. However, for reasons which are unclear, the Care Provider did not give a formal complaint response to Mrs W or Miss T.
15. The Care Provider has agreed to undertake a new investigation, first confirming its terms of reference with Mrs W to ensure it covers all the points she wishes to be investigated. It will then provide a formal response once its investigation is complete.
16. If she remains dissatisfied, Mrs W will then be able to raise a new complaint with the Ombudsman. However, the Ombudsman will discontinue his investigation of this complaint, as it will be better served by allowing the Care Provider to conduct its own investigation.

Back to top

Final decision

17. I have discontinued my investigation.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman