Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about a period of Council-commissioned domiciliary care her late mother Mrs Y received shortly before her death, and about the Council’s complaint responses. There is insufficient personal injustice caused to Mrs X or the family by the matters complained of to warrant us investigating. An investigation by us would not add to the Council’s investigation, achieve a different outcome, nor achieve a worthwhile outcome. We do not investigate councils’ complaint handling where we are not investigating the core issues giving rise to the complaint.

The complaint

1. Mrs X is the daughter of the late Mrs Y, who died in spring 2023. Just before her death, Mrs Y received about a week of care at home from a firm commissioned by the Council which is based outside its area. Mrs X complains:
1. the Council failed to assess the suitability of the care firm to provide its service in her area and to her mother;
2. the care provider gave detrimental care to her mother which did not meet her needs;
3. the Council ignored Mrs Y’s care plan and did not advise the care provider about her needs;
4. the Council provided inaccurate complaint responses.
2. Mrs X believes that if Mrs Y had not received the care provision she would still be alive. She says the service took away Mrs Y’s dignity and hope. Mrs X says the loss of Mrs Y in these circumstances has caused the family anger and added to their grief, and they have also been angered by the Council’s complaint responses. Mrs X wants the Council to apologise and explain why it commissioned the firm. She also wants the Council to stop commissioning the firm, and a thorough investigation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement; or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation; or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome; or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information from Mrs X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Council’s investigation found faults in the care provider’s service to Mrs Y, upholding some of Mrs X’s complaints. These include that the firm made inadequate records of Mrs Y’s care, did not give her family appropriate information such as the firm’s contact details, did not correctly administer Mrs Y’s medication and did not always make sure she was properly dressed.
6. We recognise the great upset and distress to Mrs X and wider family which has been caused and continues to be felt as a result of the death of Mrs Y and the circumstances prior to it. The most serious allegation from Mrs X’s complaint is that actions or inactions by the care provider in the days before Mrs Y’s death caused or contributed to her death. We cannot make such a finding. Only the coroner can determine someone’s cause or causes of death. An investigation by us could not now find the outcome for Mrs Y would have been different if the care firm staff had taken different actions in the week before she died.
7. We realise Mrs X and Mrs Y’s family have been caused upset by her period of care. But the main cause of Mrs X’s and the family’s understandable distress is the loss of Mrs Y. The injustice to Mrs X and the family directly stemming from the actions or inactions by the care firm here is insufficient to warrant us investigating. We cannot consider or remedy any injustice caused to Mrs Y by the matters complained of because we cannot do this for someone who has died.
8. We understand Mrs X wants a full investigation of her complaint. The evidence Mrs X has provided shows the Council has sought relevant information to investigate the care firm. This included evidence from Mrs X, the care records and other information from the firm’s staff. There would be no new or different information available to an investigation by us which officers have not already considered when responding to Mrs X’s complaint. An Ombudsman investigation could not add to that Council investigation here, nor lead to a different outcome.
9. The key practical outcome Mrs X wants from her complaint is the care firm to improve its processes and training and for the Council to stop commissioning it. An investigation by us would not achieve a worthwhile outcome to the benefit of Mrs X here because she has no ongoing involvement with the firm. It is for the Council to take account of Mrs X’s complaint when deciding whether to continue to commission the provider. Mrs X has referred the matter to the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The CQC is the appropriate regulatory body to consider information about the firm. As the complaint involves Council findings of fault in fundamental care standards, we will also refer this matter to the CQC by sending it a copy of our decision. It is for the CQC as the regulator to decide how to use the information it receives when making future assessments of the care firm.
10. Mrs X says the Council’s complaint responses are wrong about some aspects of the matter and that they angered her and her family. We recognise a council complaint process and outcome can be upsetting if it does not reach decisions a complainant expects on all issues. But we do not investigate councils’ complaint handling in isolation where we are not investigating the core issues giving rise to the complaint. It is not a good use of our resources to do so. That limitation applies here so we will not investigate this aspect of the complaint.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because:
• there is insufficient personal injustice caused to her or Mrs Y’s family by the matters complained of to warrant us investigating; and
• we could not add to the Council’s investigation; and
• an investigation would not achieve a different outcome; and
• an investigation would not achieve a worthwhile outcome for her; and
• we do not investigate council complaint handling where we are not investigating the core issues giving rise to the complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman