Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the standard of care provided to Mrs X’s father while at a care home. This is because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Mrs X and her father.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the standard of care provided to her father while at a care home. She complains:
• His room was untidy and unclean, leading to a poor environment for her father.
• The home did not appropriately support her father with nutrition and fluid intake.
• The home did not provide appropriate personal care to her father.
• The home failed to identify an infection on her father’s fact and failed to treat it appropriately.
• The home stored her father’s medication creams inappropriately.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. If we were to investigate, it is likely we would find fault causing the complainant injustice. This is because the care provider has accepted there has been fault for all but one of Mrs X’s complaint points.
6. We recognised the care provider has made service improvement recommendations to learn from the complaint and to prevent the same faults from reoccurring. However, the care provider did not provide a personal remedy to Mrs X, or her father. I consider this would be appropriate in the circumstances given the faults accepted likely caused Mrs X and her father significant distress.
7. We therefore asked the Council to consider remedying the distress and upset caused by its actions by making a financial payment of £300 each to Mrs X and her father. The total payment to be made is £600.
8. I acknowledged the outcomes Mrs X was seeking was for the care provider to investigate the senior managers at the care home, and for here to be an independent review and inspection of the care home.
9. The Ombudsman cannot recommend the care home complete an investigation into its senior managers. This is because this is a personnel issue and is a matter for the care provider to decide as the employer. Further, the Ombudsman does not recommend inspections or audits of care homes. This is because the Ombudsman is not a regulatory body, and our role is to remedy personal injustice caused by faults identified. If Mrs X is concerned about the care home, it is open to her to raise her concerns with the Care and Quality Commission (CQC). The CQC is the independent regulator of health and social care in England.

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Agreed action

10. To its credit, the care provider agreed to resolve the complaint and will complete the above within four weeks of the final decision.

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Final decision

11. We have upheld this complaint because the care provider has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Mrs X and her father.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman