Norfolk County Council (19 003 772)

Category : Adult care services > Domiciliary care

Decision : Not upheld

Decision date : 23 Sep 2019

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: Miss X complains about the way the Council dealt with her complaint about her late mother’s care. She says her mother deserved to be better cared for. The Ombudsman finds no fault in the Council’s actions.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Miss X, complains about the way the Council dealt with her complaint about her late mother’s care.
  2. Miss X says her mother deserved better and she would like an apology for the failings in the care provided.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
  2. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered information from the Complainant and from the Council.
  2. I sent both parties a copy of my draft decision for comment and took account of the comments I received in response.

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What I found

  1. Miss X’s mother, Mrs Y, lived alone. The Council had arranged for carers to visit daily to provide support.
  2. When Mrs Y was admitted to hospital because she was unwell, Miss X complained to the Council about the care she had received. The Council said Miss X did not have Mrs Y’s consent to complain on her behalf and when it had asked her, Mrs Y did not want to complain.
  3. Miss X did not have any legal authority to act on Mrs Y’s behalf, and the Council says it did not have reason to doubt Mrs Y’s mental capacity. Miss X says she had a power of attorney signed by Mrs Y but the organisation she used to deal with it had failed to send it to be registered. It was later registered but only a day before Mrs Y died.
  4. Although I can’t share the information with Miss X, I have seen enough evidence from the Council to assure me the care provider had already alerted the Council to the concerns raised by Mrs Y. Unfortunately, the next day, Mrs Y was admitted to hospital before the Council could take any action.
  5. Mrs Y sadly died soon after these events. When Miss X asked for information, the Council asked for evidence that she was executor. When she provided that, the Council said that, as there were more than one executor, she would need to provide evidence of the grant of probate. Miss X felt the Council was obstructing her.

Was there fault which caused injustice?

  1. With no evidence to suggest the Council had reason to doubt Mrs Y’s mental capacity, it was right to require consent from Mrs Y before accepting a complaint from Miss X on her behalf. I found no fault here.
  2. It could not accept powers of attorney which were not registered. In any event, powers of attorney relating to health and welfare are only valid when the person concerned is unable to decide about their health and welfare. I found no fault here.
  3. I am satisfied, from the evidence I have seen, that the Council took appropriate action to follow up on Miss X’s concerns. It investigated the actions of the care provider and found the carers had already alerted it to concerns about Mrs Y’s situation and had supported Mrs Y as planned. Unfortunately, Mrs Y was admitted to hospital before it could take any action. I found no fault here.

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Final decision

  1. I have completed my investigation and do not uphold Miss X’s complaint about the way the Council dealt with her concerns about her late mother’s care.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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