Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr A’s complaint about his late mother’s, Mrs B’s, care provider’s refusal to respond to his complaints. This is because Mr A has not suffered any significant injustice from the care provider’s actions while there was a safeguarding investigation in progress to warrant an Ombudsman investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr A says his late mother’s, Mrs B’s, care provider has refused to answer all queries he has regarding the care she received at the end of her life and says her life was cut short because of the carer’s actions.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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:

• the action has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the care provider, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• 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

3. I considered the information and documentation Mr A provided. I discussed the concerns with Mr A and sent him a copy of my draft decision for comment.

Back to top

What I found

4. Mr A is concerned Mrs B’s care provider has not provided him with answers to his queries regarding care provided to her which he says, contributed to her death.
5. The care provider says it stopped investigating Mr A’s complaints while the police and safeguarding investigated them.
6. Mr A says the Council has completed its safeguarding investigation. Mr A can now go back to the care provider and ask it to consider any outstanding matters about the service complaint which have not been covered by the safeguarding investigation. The care provider should be able to respond to the concerns now. If he remains unhappy with the care provider’s response he can come back to the Ombudsman and ask him to consider it further.
7. If Mr A is unhappy with the outcome of the safeguarding investigation he can ask the Council to consider his complaint. If he remains unhappy with the Council’s response he can come back to the Ombudsman and ask him to consider it further.
8. The Ombudsman could not make a finding that a care provider caused or contributed to a person’s death. The Coroner determines cause of death and can request further investigation if concerned a care provider caused the death.
9. Mr A is concerned Mrs B’s carers were not qualified or had been Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) checked. Mr A is not entitled to personal information about individual members of care staff, but he can ask the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as regulator of care provider’s to consider his concerns about qualifications and DBS checks during its inspection of the care provider.

Back to top

Final decision

10. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because Mr A has not suffered any significant injustice from the care provider’s refusal to consider his complaints while there was a safeguarding investigation in progress to warrant an Ombudsman investigation.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman