Barchester Healthcare Homes Limited (22 015 788)
Category : Adult care services > Residential care
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 23 Mar 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this late complaint about quality of care during a respite stay in a care home. There is not a good reason for the delay in the complaint being brought to the Ombudsman.
The complaint
- Ms X complained about the care her mother (Ms Y) received during ten days’ respite in a care home. She says Ms Y was neglected and abused. This caused Ms Y’s needs to increase and Ms X had to provide extra full time care for Ms Y on leaving, taking time out of work. She says it has also caused distress and a knock-on impact on her health. She wants the care provider to make service improvements and to reimburse the care costs.
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 Care Provider.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Ms Y had ten days’ respite in the care home in 2021. Ms X, her daughter, complained to the Care Provider in September 2021. She also contacted the Care Quality Commission, who referred the matter to the local Council’s safeguarding team.
- The Care Provider issued a complaint response to Ms X in March 2022. Ms X says she tried to complain to the Ombudsman in March 2022 but technical difficulties meant she could not submit her complaint online. Ms X submitted her complaint to the Ombudsman in February 2023.
- The law says complaints must be brought to us within 12 months of the person becoming aware of the matter. There is not a good reason for the delay in complaining as Ms X could have telephoned us in March 2022 on experiencing technical difficulties.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Ms X’s late complaint because there is not a good reason for the delay in bringing it to the Ombudsman.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman