Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the quality of Mr Y’s care in a care home. Ms X can complain to us after the results of an inquest are known, as we could not currently come to sound conclusions about what injustice any fault caused.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the standard of her father’s (Mr Y’s) care at a care home. He was not given support to transfer, which he required, and this led to his death from a fall in May 2022. Appropriate referrals were not made to the falls team and his care plan wrongly said he did not require support with transferring. Ms X says the neglect and Mr Y’s death caused the family significant distress. She wants acceptance of fault and an apology.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr Y lived in a care home. Ms X says he died after a fall in May 2022, and she holds the care provider responsible for this as it did not support him properly with transfers. Ms X says she raised the issue repeatedly over several years.
6. An inquest is due to take place in September 2022, as Ms X says the post-mortem examination concluded Mr Y’s death was a result of his fall. Until the inquest has concluded, we could not properly consider the circumstances and come to sound decisions. We could not currently say what injustice any fault caused, and whether investigation by the Ombudsman could achieve anything in addition to the processes that have already taken place.
7. It is open to Ms X to bring the complaint back to the Ombudsman promptly after the inquest, at which point we can properly assess it.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we could not currently come to sound conclusions about what injustice any fault caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman