Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council cared for his father. This is because we cannot achieve any meaningful outcome or carry out an effective investigation into what happened. There is also no evidence of fault in the way the Council responded to his concerns about financial exploitation..

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council failed to provide proper care for his father before he passed away. Mr X says a carer failed to record an injury his father suffered and alleges his father was financially exploited by those caring for him.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. We cannot achieve meaningful outcome from an investigation into the Council’s assessment of Mr X’s father needs. Where we find fault in the way an assessment has been carried out we would usually recommend a reassessment of a person’s needs. This is not possible as Mr X’s father has passed away.
6. We are also not able to carry out a fair and effective investigation into the incident where Mr X’s father injured himself. The carer who was present at the time is no longer employed by the care agency. The care agency has accepted that there is no record of the incident. The care agency’s policy is that a record should be made of any incidents where a person is injured. We cannot speak to Mr X or the carer about what happened and so it is unlikely we could reach any view on what happened.
7. There is no evidence of fault in how the Council responded to Mr X’s concerns that his father was being financially exploited by his carers. The Council has asked Mr X for evidence of this. If Mr X wishes the Council to explore this further he should provide the evidence it has asked for.
8. For the reasons set out above we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot achieve any meaningful outcome or carry out an effective investigation into what happened to his father. There is also no evidence of fault in the way the Council responded to his concerns about financial exploitation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman