Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the care provider for his mother Mrs Y incorrectly recording her weight loss and risk from malnutrition. There is no different outcome an investigation would achieve which warrants an investigation. There is insufficient significant personal injustice caused to Mr X or Mrs Y by the matters complained of to justify investigating.

The complaint

1. Mr X is Mrs Y’s son. Mrs Y has Parkinson’s and lives in a care home run by the care provider. Mr X complains the care provider failed to correctly record and calculate Mrs Y’s percentage weight loss and risk of malnutrition between for several months.
2. Mr X says he cannot assess the impact of any malnutrition on Mrs Y. He says he would have preferred her to have been assessed correctly and her weight loss and malnutrition risks to have been recorded accurately. With an accurate record Mr X believes medical professionals and care staff would have acted sooner to pre-empt his concerns. He is concerned others in the same care placement or in other placements run by the same provider may also be affected.
3. Mr X wants the care provider to:

• acknowledge the full extent of the problem and investigate why it happened; and
• inform any other residents or their families about what happened.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. We investigate complaints about adult social care providers. 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:

• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement; 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

5. I considered information from Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The care provider has accepted staff made errors in the recording of Mrs Y’s weight loss and risk of malnutrition and apologised to Mr X. It has raised the issue with its nursing team, senior team and home manager and says staff will monitor future recordings to ensure the errors are not repeated. The care provider says it had discussed Mrs Y’s weight loss with medical professionals on the multi‑disciplinary team and that Mrs Y’s wellbeing was being monitored by relevant medical staff. The care provider’s response to the complaint, its apology and practical actions, are in line with the outcomes we would have sought had we investigated the complaint. There is no different outcome an investigate would achieve for Mr X or Mrs Y which warrants us investigating.
7. While there have been errors by the care provider, for us to pursue a complaint there also needs to be a significant personal injustice stemming from those errors. Mrs Y lost weight at the care home. But Mr X has not submitted information to indicate this significantly affected Mrs Y health or conditions. Mrs Y’s overall wellbeing remained under the scrutiny of relevant care and medical staff and was not solely reliant on the recording issues raised. There is not enough evidence the weight loss, or errors in recording that and her malnutrition risk, caused a significant personal injustice to Mrs Y which warrants investigation.
8. We also recognise Mr X would have had some worry from the incorrect recording of Mrs Y’s weight loss and risk of malnutrition and would have preferred them to have been correctly assessed and recorded. But the impact on Mr X of the recording errors is not a sufficient personal injustice to him to justify an investigation.
9. Mr X is concerned others in the same care placement, or in other placements run by the same provider, may also be affected. But any impact on other people is not Mr X’s or Mrs Y’s injustice and we cannot consider it. However, given the care provider’s acceptance of the recording errors, we will refer the information from Mr X’s complaint to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which regulates the care provider, by providing it with a copy of this decision. It will be for the CQC to use that information as it considers appropriate to inform future assessments of the provider.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because:
• we could not achieve a different outcome by investigating; and
• there is insufficient personal injustice to Mr X and Mrs Y caused by the matters complained of to warrant investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman