Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about her mother, Mrs Y’s, care at the care provider’s care home in 2015 and about its delay in responding to her complaint. The complaint lies outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction because it is late. There are no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider this very late complaint now.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Ms X, complains about the standard of care her mother, Mrs Y, received at the care provider’s care home in 2015. Ms X complains the care provider failed to respond to her complaint for several years and then delayed further when it did consider it.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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), as amended)

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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 care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I considered the information Ms X and her sister provided. I also considered the complaint correspondence which we requested from the care provider. I sent Ms X a draft of my decision and considered her comments in response.

Back to top

What I found

6. Ms X complains on behalf of her sister and her mother, Mrs Y, about the standard of care Mrs Y received whilst a resident of the care provider’s care home.
7. Ms X and her sister first complained to the care home about Mrs Y’s, care in early 2015, following a deterioration in her health. They served notice to the home and Mrs Y sadly died several months later.
8. Ms X says the care provider failed to respond to this complaint for over four years, until she contacted the provider again in 2019, after speaking to CQC about the complaint.
9. The care provider said it responded to the complaint in 2015. It sent Ms X a further copy of its response letter, sent in March 2015, which Ms X and her sister had not received.
10. Ms X is not satisfied the care provider’s original response letter was created and sent in 2015. She asked the care provider to provide verification of the date the document was created. The care provider sent this via its legal representative.
11. The care provider considered the complaint further in 2019 and issued a final response in mid-2020. Ms X says the care provider delayed in responding to the 2019 complaint. The care provider acknowledged some delay in responding within its usual timescales. It said this was due to the Covid-19 pandemic and its need to focus attention on residents and the day to day operation of the care home during the outbreak.

Back to top

Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint. The complaint lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late. The law says a complaint should be made to us within 12 months of a person first becoming aware of the matter complained about. Ms X has clearly been aware of this matter since 2015. It is reasonable to expect Ms X or her sister to have made this complaint to us much sooner. There are no good grounds for us to exercise discretion to consider this very late complaint now, more than five years on from the substantive issues complained about.
13. Ms X also complains about more recent complaint handling issues in relation to the care provider’s delay in responding to her 2019 complaint. We will not consider complaint handling issues where we are not investigating the substantive complaint because it lies outside of our jurisdiction. It is not good use of public resources for us to do so.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman