Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss Q’s complaint about the care her mother received in her nursing home or the unpaid top-up fees it is asking her to pay. This is because the complaint is late.

The complaint

1. Miss Q is complaining on behalf of her mother, Mrs Z. She is complaining about the care her mother received in the nursing home Essex County Council commissioned and partially paid for. Among other things, Miss Q said Mrs Z had unexplained bruising on her body, she suffered falls, and items went missing from her room. Miss Q does not believe she should have to pay Mrs Z’s unpaid care home fees because of the poor care she received, and also because she believes Mrs Z should have received continuing healthcare funding.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Miss Q provided. I considered the information the Council provided. I considered Miss Q’s comments in response to a draft of this decision.

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What I found

What happened

5. Mrs Z lived in a nursing home. The Council partially paid the fees. Miss Q had to pay top-up fees. We previously investigated a complaint from Miss Q about the top-up fees.
6. Miss Q’s current complaint is about the care her mother received in her nursing home and unpaid top-up fees. Among other things, Miss Q said her mother had unexplained bruising on her body, she suffered falls, and items went missing from her room. She also believes her mother was entitled to continuing healthcare (CHC) funding.
7. In 2018 Miss Q complained to the Council about her mother’s care and about the lack of CHC funding for the care home fees. Miss Q did not think she should have to pay all the unpaid top-up fees because of these issues. The Council responded to Miss Q’s complaint in August 2018 and offered to meet her or, as an alternative, it said she could bring her complaint to us.
8. Mrs Z died in April 2019. The Council is pursuing Miss Q for the unpaid top-up fees.
9. In 2020, Miss Q’s solicitor contacted the Council making the same complaint made in 2018 about Mrs Z’s care. The Council told Miss Q’s solicitor it had already dealt with the complaint.
10. Miss Q brought her complaint to us in September 2020. She explained why she did not do this sooner. Among other things, she said she had been unwell and had yet to get all the information about her mother’s finances.

Analysis

11. We will not investigate this complaint.
12. The matters Miss Q complains of happened prior to her complaint to the Council in 2018. The Council responded to her complaint at the time and advised her she could bring her complaint to us. She did not do so for a further two years. So the complaint is late.
13. We do have discretion to investigate late complaints when there are good reasons for it being late. But we will not do so in this case. I recognise Miss Q has been unwell and she does not have all the information about her mother’s finances. But she pursued the matter with the Council in 2018 and so could have brought the complaint to us at the time when it advised her she could do so.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate this complaint because it is late.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman