Summary: We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint about the way her late mother, Mrs C, was treated by her care provider. This is because any further investigation by the Ombudsman could not make a different finding or provide Mrs B with a different outcome to that provided by the Council.

The complaint

1. Mrs B complained her late mother’s, Mrs C’s, care provider was rude and discourteous towards her, accused her of ‘putting it on’ and said it was giving notice. Mrs B says Mrs C’s care provider bullied her and she does not want anyone else to suffer as she and Mrs C has.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. 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:

• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information and documentation Mrs B and the Council provided. I sent Mrs B a copy of my draft decision and considered her comments on it.

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What I found

4. The Council investigated Mrs B’s complaints about the way Mrs C had been treated by her care provider and the upset it caused when it told Mrs C it was giving notice.
5. The Council explained the care provider gave it two weeks’ notice as it could no longer provide care when Mrs C was assessed as needing two carers. The care provider said it did not have capacity to provide the level of support Mrs C needed. The Council says from records it has seen, there is no evidence the care provider acted in a disrespectful or bulling way but acknowledged it could have handled the giving of notice to Mrs C better. It says it spoke to the care provider who apologised to Mrs B for any upset it may have caused.
6. We could not make a finding on what Mrs B perceived as disrespectful and bulling comments when we were not there, or say the care provider should not have given notice when it could not meet Mrs C’s care needs. The care provider has apologised Mrs B felt this was the case and we could not achieve any more than this even if we investigated.
7. Mrs B complained the care provider charged her for two weeks cleaning it did not provide. The Council explained this was a private arrangement between Mrs B and the care provider. It said it spoke to the care provider who said although the care element had been cancelled it had not cancelled the cleaning on its records. The care provider apologised for the oversight, confirmed it has now amended its records and said it would reimburse Mrs B for the overpayment. The Council confirmed the care provider said it had done this and invited Mrs B to contact it further if the monies had not been received. We could achieve no more than this even if we investigated.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because any further investigation by the Ombudsman could not make a different finding or provide Mrs B with a different outcome to that provided by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman