Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint the Council withheld information from him about his mother’s, Mrs Q’s care. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council withheld information from him about his mother’s, Mrs Q’s care.
2. Mr X said the confusion around Mrs Q’s care and who the Council was to contact made it difficult for them to care for Mrs Q. Mr X said he lost confidence in the Council’s ability to look after private records.
3. Mr X wants the Council to be transparent and truthful about the care information on Mrs Q’s record.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

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

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. In the Council’s complaint response, it said it had not withheld information from Mr X. The Council said it had agreed with Mrs Q, that Mr X’s sibling, Ms Y would be the family’s sole point of contact for Mrs Q’s care related information. It said Mrs Q had capacity to make decisions about her care needs.
8. It said it was common for one family member to act as a point of contact, when a person was supported by multiple family members.
9. Although Mr X is unhappy with the Council’s response, we will not investigate. The Council discussed Mrs Q’s discharge plans with her, and shared this in line with her wishes. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify our involvement.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman