Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the care Mrs Q received from her carers. This is because the complaint is late.

The complaint

1. Mr Q is complaining on behalf of his wife, Mrs Q, about the care she received from Berkeley Home Health Limited’s carers.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a body in jurisdiction has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Mr Q provided. I considered Mr Q’s response to a draft of this decision.

Back to top

What I found

Key facts

5. Mr Q’s wife, Mrs Q, has multiple sclerosis and a spinal injury. They are unhappy with the care Mrs Q received from the carers provided by Berkeley Home Health Limited (the Care Provider). Among other things, Mr Q complained that

• the carers were untrained and inexperienced in dealing with someone with a spinal injury;
• the Care Provider did not report incidents and accidents;
• the Care Provider took too long to respond to his complaints and failed to respond to others.

6. The Care Provider gave notice it would terminate its contract with Mrs Q in March 2018. Mr Q later complained to the Care Provider. He was not happy with its first response and complained again in September 2018. The Care Provider responded in November 2018 and advised Mr Q he could bring his complaint to us. Mr Q did not receive the Care Provider’s November letter. He contacted it again in April 2019 as it was pursuing Mrs Q for an outstanding payment. The Care Provider sent Mr Q a copy of its November letter in May 2019 and Mr Q complained to us the following month.

Analysis

7. We will not investigate this complaint.
8. Mrs Q’s contract with the Care Provider ended in March 2018. So the poor care Mr Q complained of happened before the contract ended. Mr Q did not complain to us until June 2018. So the complaint is late, as explained in paragraph 3.
9. We do have the discretion to consider late complaints if there are good reasons for the lateness. In this case, the Care Provider told Mr Q in November 2018 he could bring his complaint to us. Mr Q did not receive the Care Provider’s letter until May 2019. However, Mr Q did not pursue the matter between September 2018 (when he complained again to the Care Provider) and April 2019 (when the Care Provider contacted Mrs Q about an outstanding payment). Mr Q could have contacted the Care Provider about its outstanding response to his complaint sooner. Had he done so, he could have brought his complaint to us sooner. So there are no good reasons for us to exercise our discretion and consider the complaint now.

Back to top

Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is late.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman