Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council preventing the complainant’s daughter from having a medical test. That is because the decision was not made by the Council, therefore the complaint is outside our jurisdiction.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council had stopped her daughter, Miss Y having a medical test. She said since Miss Y had entered the care of the Council her health had deteriorated.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate a complaint where the body complained about is not responsible for the issue being raised. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(1), as amended)

4. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
5. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
6. 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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

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

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. Miss Y does not have capacity to make decisions about her health and welfare. There is a Court Order in place to manage this. The Court Order requires Miss Y’s GP to monitor her health and make screening referrals as appropriate.
10. Following Mrs X’s complaint to the Council in 2022, it arranged a Best Interest meeting with Miss Y’s GP to discuss the need for the medical test. The GP decided the test was not required. Although Mrs X is unhappy about that decision, it was not made by the Council, therefore we will not investigate it further. Mrs X would need to complain to Miss Y’s GP if she is unhappy with that decision.
11. In the Council’s response to Mrs X’s complaint, it addressed whether Mrs X could arrange a private test for Miss Y. The Council said the Court had previously considered her request for the test and decided it would not benefit Miss Y. It said Mrs X would need to make a further application to the Court to progress that test. We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the private test, as we have no jurisdiction to investigate a matter that has been considered as part of court proceedings. The Council has correctly directed Mrs X to the Courts if she wants to arrange a private test for Miss Y.
12. Mrs X also complained Miss Y’s Social Workers had obstructed Miss Y getting the medical test. These complaints date back to contact the Council had with Miss Y’s GP in 2018. Therefore, these complaints are late. If Mrs X was unhappy with the Council’s actions in 2018- 2019 it was reasonable for her to have complained to us sooner. In any event, even if they were not late, we would not investigate. That is because we cannot achieve the outcome Mrs X wants, which is for Miss Y’s GP to agree to the medical test, or for the Council to approve her arranging a private one.

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Final decision

13. We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the decision not to complete a medical test was made by the GP, not the Council. Therefore, we have no jurisdiction to investigate. We cannot investigate the advice the Council provided around a private test as it has previously been considered by the Court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman