Luton Borough Council (19 006 360)

Category : Adult care services > Domiciliary care

Decision : Not upheld

Decision date : 10 Dec 2019

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: Ms B complains about what happened when the hospital discharged her father. The complaint has concerns about both the Council and NHS Trust. At this stage Ms B has not made a complaint to the NHS Trust. It is better for the Ombudsmen to investigate the whole complaint, so I have discontinued investigation at this stage. The NHS Trust should be allowed the opportunity to investigate. If they cannot resolve Ms B’s complaint she can revert to the Ombudsmen for a full investigation. It is difficult to separate the issues about the Council from the issues about the NHS Trust.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, who I will call Ms B, complains about the treatment of her father who I will call Mr C. Ms B says the hospital discharged Mr C too soon and without proper information to the rehabilitation centre, who could not meet his needs. A week later Mr C was back in hospital. When the hospital decided it could discharge Mr C the Council’s social workers became involved in assessing where he should go. The Council wanted Mr C to go home with a care package, the family wanted him to go to a rehabilitation centre.
  2. The first night the care workers helped Mr C to bed at 7.30pm and then did not arrive until 9.45am the next morning. The Council did not tell the family the care agency could not meet the times requested. The care workers were not helping Mr C out of bed, or to the commode, so he was spending all day in bed. Mr C was supposed to receive visits at home from a physiotherapist but didn’t receive this until Ms B chased it.
  3. Mr C then received a bill from the Council for the care support. Ms B says they did not know the Council would charge them. Ms B says the charges were exaggerated, for example charging for a whole day on the day Mr C came home from hospital when he only received one care call that day.
  4. Ms B spoke with the Council about reablement, the Council did not think Mr C qualified as he was bed bound. When the Council realised Mr C was improving with the help of the physiotherapist it put in six weeks of free reablement care and Mr C no longer needed the care agency.
  5. Ms B believes her father’s discharge from hospital was poorly handled, and that has led to incorrect care support provision and unfair charges incurred.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. We can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), 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 provided by Ms B. I referred the case to the Ombudsman’s joint working team which can carry out joint investigation with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and considered its response. I shared a draft of this statement with Ms B and the Council; I received and considered responses from Ms B.

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What I found

  1. Ms B’s complaint has concerns about both the Council and the hospital. These concerns are inextricably linked, as stem from the way Mr C was discharged from hospital.
  2. Ms B has not made a complaint to the relevant NHS Trust about the hospital’s actions when discharging Mr C.
  3. Although Ms B has made a complaint to the Council, I believe it is difficult in this case to separate the issues and take forward an investigation at this stage.
  4. The Ombudsmen would allow bodies complained of to have an opportunity to investigate first and try and resolve any identified failings. As the NHS Trust has not yet had this opportunity, I propose to discontinue investigation to allow it to do so. If Ms B cannot resolve the issues with the Council and NHS Trust, she can refer the complaint back to us so we can consider all issues complained of.

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Final decision

  1. I have discontinued investigation on the basis the issues about the Council and NHS Trust should be investigated together. The NHS Trust has not yet had an opportunity to consider the complaint through its own complaints procedure and should be allowed that opportunity. The Council and NHS Trust might want to consider the duty to co-operate under the Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009 in co-ordinating the handling of the complaint. The Council should have recognised this when it first received Ms B’s complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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