Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the care provided to her late husband on the Council’s behalf. This is because we cannot say the care wrongly caused his death and we cannot now remedy any injustice he may have suffered during the final weeks/months of his life.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complains about the level of care provided to her late husband, Mr X. She considers poor care and the cancellation of her husband’s flu-jab led to his death, which has caused upset and distress and impacted on her own health.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

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

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I reviewed Mrs X’s complaint and the Council’s response. I shared my draft decision with Mrs X and considered her comments.

Back to top

What I found

4. The Council arranged for Mr X to move into a care home in April 2018. Mrs X complains about the level of care Mr X received, specifically that staff at the care home were not properly trained to deal with catheters and that staffing levels were too low to properly monitor his health. She says Mr X suffered pain and injury as a result of inadequate training and was left in soiled clothes following an episode of incontinence. She also complains appointments for Mr X’s flu-jab were twice cancelled and believes this directly resulted in his death, which has caused her upset and distress.
5. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. The Ombudsman could not hold the Council responsible for Mr X’s death and we cannot remedy Mrs X’s upset or distress at the death of her husband.
6. The injustice from the alleged poor care provided from the care home on the Council’s behalf was primarily Mr X’s and, because he has died, we could not now provide a suitable remedy for any fault an investigation might uncover.

Back to top

Final decision

7. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot link Mr X’s death to the poor care Mrs X complains about or provide a remedy for his injustice.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman