Summary: The complaint is about care provided in a care home. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because the person mainly affected has died so the Ombudsman could not now correct any injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the care his late grandmother, Mrs Y, received in a care home arranged by the Council and about the attitude of someone at the care home. Mr X said this meant Mrs Y had to wait too long for attention sometimes and had to wait too long to move to a more suitable room.

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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 could achieve anything for the person mainly affected. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information Mr X provided and discussed the complaint with him. I shared my draft decision with Mr X and considered his comments on it.

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What I found

4. The Council arranged for Mrs Y to go into a care home. Mr X is dissatisfied with some aspects of the care Mrs Y received there. Sadly, Mrs Y has since died.
5. The Ombudsman will normally only investigate a complaint where, if the complaint were to be upheld, he might achieve a remedy for the person affected by any fault. In this case, any injustice was chiefly Mrs Y’s. As, sadly, Mrs Y is no longer living, there is now no suitable remedy to any injustice caused by fault that an investigation might uncover. I recognise Mr X and his family were upset by some of the matters leading to the complaint. However, that in itself is not enough reason to investigate the complaint as the person mainly affected has died.
6. Responding to a draft of this decision, Mr X said he did not pursue his concerns while Mrs Y was alive because he feared a complaint might negatively affect Mrs Y and because there were few care homes locally accepting the Council’s payment rate. I note those reasons. However, they do not overcome the point that Mrs Y’s death means there is no longer a complainant to us for whom we could remedy any injustice.
7. Mr X accepts an investigation could not now achieve anything for Mrs Y but he suggests it might bring about improvements for others. I recognise this point. However, the Ombudsman’s role is mainly to investigate complaints affecting individuals. The Ombudsman can make recommendations that could affect others once the Ombudsman has started an investigation. However, the Ombudsman will only start an investigation if there is someone still living with a significant potential injustice who is complaining to us or authorising someone to complain to us for them. That is not the case here. It is not the Ombudsman’s role to regulate or oversee councils’ or care homes’ activities generally.
8. Mr X reports the matters he was concerned about still affect the home. If any current resident or their representative wants to complain, they can do so. Mr X’s continuing concerns do not mean we must investigate. As explained above, it is not the Ombudsman’s role to investigate every complaint.
9. Mr X states he raised his concerns with the Council, which is investigating. The Council can do that because it has an ongoing interest in the home as it might place people there. Mr X’s contact with the Council might therefore have a positive effect if the Council has any concerns. However, it does not change the reasons for the Ombudsman not investigating the complaint.
10. I sympathise with Mr X. However, for the reasons given above, we shall not investigate the complaint.

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Final decision

11. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is mainly because we cannot now achieve anything for Mrs Y.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman