Summary: We do not propose to investigate this complaint about the actions of the Care Provider in relation to the complainant and his family. This is because we cannot add to the previous complaint investigation or achieve the outcomes that the complainant seeks.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here and Mr O, says that the Care Provider:
• Has not responded properly to the questions he has raised regarding the care of his mother in law, ML;
• Prevented his wife from seeing ML before she died;
• Refused to accept his allegations about the behaviour of the Care Home manager;
• Refused to give him and his wife his ML’s care records; and
• Has not taken appropriate disciplinary action against staff at the Care Home.

Back to top

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 a complaint if it is about a personnel issue. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5a, paragraph 4, as amended)
4. 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 add to any previous investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I considered the information provided by Mr O, and I have sent him a draft decision for his comments.

Back to top

What I found

6. ML was resident at a Care Home before her death.
7. Mr O has raised many issues with the Care Provider about the care provided, and about the way in which the staff at the Home behaved to him, his wife, and her sisters, both before, and at the time of ML’s death. The Care Provider has responded to the issues raised.
8. However, Mr O is not satisfied with the response. He says that it does not answer many of the questions he has raised, and has not achieved the outcome that he wants. This is for the Care Home manager to be dismissed and other staff disciplined.
9. I will not investigate the complaint however: this is for two reasons.
10. Firstly, there is nothing that we could add to the Care Provider’s response. I appreciate that Mr O says he has unanswered questions, but it is not our role to provide a review or answer questions of why certain actions were taken. Our role is to establish whether there was fault causing injustice, and further investigation would not add to the Care Provider’s findings.
11. Secondly, we cannot achieve the outcome that Mr O is seeking. He says that he wants the manager to be dismissed, and disciplinary action taken against other staff. We may not consider disciplinary actions, as anything relating to personnel matters is out of our jurisdiction.

Back to top

Final decision

12. Subject to any comments Mr O might make, my view is that the Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot add to the previous investigation or provide the desired outcomes.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman