Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Care Provider not replying to his contacts about a placement for his late mother Mrs Y in one of its care homes, nor how it dealt with his complaint. There is insufficient injustice to Mr X or others to warrant an investigation. We also cannot achieve the outcomes Mr X seeks. We do not investigate Care Providers’ complaint handling where we are not investigating the core issues giving rise to the complaint.

The complaint

1. Mr X is the late Mrs Y’s son. Mrs Y lived in a privately funded care home, home A. The Care Provider also owns care home B, which was run by the same manager. Mrs Y went into hospital from home A. She later needed to be discharged to a care home placement for end-of-life care.
2. Mr X complains the Care Provider:
1. failed to reply to his calls and email about placing Mrs Y in care home B;
2. failed to properly record and consider his complaint.
3. Mr X says the matter caused Mrs Y and her family extreme stress and anxiety at an already difficult time. Mr X wants the Care Provider to issue a formal apology and make a note on the care homes manager’s employment record that their conduct was unprofessional.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. We investigate complaints about adult social care providers and decide whether their actions have caused an injustice, or could have caused injustice, to the person making the complaint. I have used the term fault to describe such actions. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 34B and 34C)
5. 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
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, sections 34B(8) and (9))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. The Care Provider accepts the manager did not reply to Mr X’s contacts about the possibility of Mrs Y going to care home B. There was a lack of consideration in not responding to Mr X. The manager could have explained the Care Provider’s position that previous incidents and contacts with Mr X meant staff considered the relationship between them had broken down and there was insufficient trust. However, we cannot take account of injustice this matter caused to Mrs Y as she has died. We do not consider the injustice of someone for whom we cannot provide a remedy. We recognise Mr X and other members of Mrs Y’s family would have had some frustration, concern and annoyance at the lack of the manager’s reply for the short period before they found a new care home for Mrs Y in difficult circumstances. But there is insufficient injustice caused by the Care Provider not responding to Mr X to warrant an investigation, so we will not do so.
8. We understand Mr X wants the Care Provider to issue a formal apology. The Care Provider apologised in its complaint reply that it could not agree a rapid discharge of Mrs Y to care home B. We recognise this may not be the apology Mr X wants. But we do not investigate to achieve another or a different form of apology for complainants. Mr X also wants the Care Provider to make a note on the manager’s employment record that their conduct was unprofessional. The contents of staff employment records are internal personnel matters for a care firm to determine. We do not intervene in personnel issues between employers and employees. Ordering a firm to make a note or record on a staff member’s file would be such an intervention into a Care Provider’s internal personnel issues. That we cannot achieve the outcomes Mr X seeks from his complaint is a further reason why we will not investigate.
9. Mr X says the Care Provider did not ask him to set out his complaint before responding to it. We do not investigate Care Providers’ complaint handling in isolation where we are not investigating the core issues which gave rise to the complaint. It is not a good use of our resources to do so. That limitation applies here so we will not investigate this part of the complaint.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because:
• there is insufficient injustice to warrant an investigation; and
• we cannot achieve the outcomes he seeks; and
• we do not investigate Care Providers’ internal complaint handling where we are not investigating the core issues which gave rise to the complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman