Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the poor care the Council accepted it provided to Miss X’s late father Mr Y in 2023 and 2024. We could not add significantly to the Council’s own findings, or deliver the outcome Miss X is seeking in determining whether there was negligence, and if compensation should be paid.

The complaint

1. Miss X says there were serious failings by the Council in the care of her father, Mr X during a period of more than a year before his death in 2024. She says he is no longer alive because of those failings.
2. She wants the Council to pay compensation for the stress she was caused, and to show her the case study the Council is using in training staff.

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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:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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

4. We may investigate a complaint on behalf of someone who has died or who cannot authorise someone to act for them. The complaint may be made by:

• their personal representative (if they have one), or
• someone we consider to be suitable.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(2) and 34C(2), as amended.

5. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
6. 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).
7. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended).

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
9. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
10. I exercised discretion to consider matters more than 12 months past because Mr Y would have been unable to complain to us at the time, and Miss X is acting on his behalf.

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My assessment

11. There is no dispute between Miss X and the Council that there were serious failings in Mr Y’s care in 2023-24. The Council’s own investigation found Mr Y’s recliner chairs broke down repeatedly and he suffered several falls. It found the out-of-hours responses to the falls, and staffing structures were inadequate. There were also failings in call handling and record keeping, as well as the system for replacing faulty chairs. The Council confirmed to Miss X that processes had been changed, staff training changed, and disciplinary action taken where it had been warranted. It also paid back the telecare sum she paid for the period from 2023 to 2024.I note, too, that the Council met Miss X and other members of her family after the report was produced.
12. Were we to investigate, it is unlikely we could add to the Council’s own investigation, or recommend more in the way of practice changes. The only additional remedy recommendation we would be likely to make would be a symbolic payment for Miss X’s distress.
13. Miss X has stated, however, that her father died because of numerous service failures by the Council. She stated she would like compensation for negligence. We could not deliver such an outcome. Only a court can determine if there was negligence or a causal link between acts or omissions and a person’s death. And compensation consequent from negligence involves potentially significant sums that only a court can determine.
14. It is open to Miss X to ask the Council for a copy of any case study it uses in training that is based on her father’s experience.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman