Lancashire County Council (21 015 439)
Category : Adult care services > Residential care
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 23 Feb 2022
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the care that the complainants late mother in law received in 2018. This is because the events happened too long ago, and I see no reason why the complaint could not have been made sooner.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I will call Mr X, complains about the care that his late mother in law received in a care home, prior to her death. I will refer to Mr X’s mother in law as Ms Z. Mr X says the care home that the Ms Z was staying in failed to safeguard her.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Ms Z was in a care home until December 2018, when she was admitted to hospital after a fall. She passed away in January 2019. Mr X subsequently contacted the Council who started a safeguarding adults enquiry. The Council completed its enquiry in January 2020, and informed Mr X of the outcome.
- I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because the events happened too long ago, and I see no reason why the complaint could not have been raised sooner, either when Ms Z passed away or in January 2020, when the Council concluded its safeguarding enquiries.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is made late, and I see no good reason to exercise discretion and investigate it now.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman