Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the care her husband received. This is because an investigation would be unlikely to add anything to the response Mrs X has already received or achieve a different remedy.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, complains about the care her husband (Mr X) received during his stay with the care provider.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about adult social care providers and decide whether their actions have caused an injustice, or could have caused injustice, to the person making the complaint. I have used the term fault to describe such actions. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 34B and 34C)
3. 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 by the care provider, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 34B(8) and (9))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered Mrs X’s complaint to the Ombudsman and the information she provided. I also gave Mrs X the opportunity to comment on a draft statement before reaching a final decision on her complaint.

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What I found

What happened

5. Mr X received respite care from 06 March 2020. Mr X was admitted to hospital on 21 April 2020 and sadly died shortly after. Mrs X has complained to the care provider about the care Mr X received. In her complaint she referred to a deterioration in Mr X’s health which the care provider did not tell her about. Mrs X also referred to the care provider losing paperwork. Mrs X has asked for a change in procedures, a donation to charity in Mr X’s memory, and help with the cost of counselling.
6. In its responses to Mrs X’s complaint the care provider said:
• There were inconsistencies in Mr X’s care records. For example, diary sheets did not match temperature records.
• It had not told Mrs X when Mr X had suffered a fall.
• Food and fluid charts were missing.
• The care provider had failed to call Mr X’s GP when he was “clearly not himself”.
• Diary sheets were not detailed enough.
• There should have been increased monitoring of Mr X because of a high temperature.
• It had missed opportunities to contact professionals for support.
• Notes were not detailed enough, and it should have kept Mrs X informed about Mr X’s health.
• Some changes in processes had already been introduced.
• The manager of the care home would write to Mrs X with an apology.
• It would pay Mrs X three and a half thousand pounds which she could donate to charity. The care home subsequently increased this offer to a refund of all the care fees - just over seven thousand pounds.

Assessment

7. In deciding whether to investigate a complaint we need to consider various tests. These include the alleged injustice and what an investigation could achieve. We do not investigate all the complaints we receive.
8. I understand how distressing the issues at the heart of this complaint must be for Mrs X. But having considered the information available, I do not think an investigation by the Ombudsman could achieve anything more for Mrs X. The care provider has considered and upheld her complaint. It has offered to waive all the fees for Mr X’s respite stay. It has apologised and said it will make changes to its processes.
9. If we were to investigate, it is unlikely we would recommend a remedy over and above the one the care provider has already offered. Because Mr X has passed away, we cannot do anything to remedy any injustice caused to him by the care provider’s actions. We will not therefore investigate.
10. If Mrs X has continuing concerns, she could approach the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as the regulator of care providers. The CQC regularly inspects care providers to make sure they are meeting the fundamental standards those registered to provide care services must achieve.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. This is because an investigation would be unlikely to add anything to the response Mrs X has already received and the remedy the care provider has offered.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman