Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the care provided to her late mother Mrs Y at a home commissioned and part‑funded by the Council. There is insufficient injustice that we can now remedy to warrant us investigating. An investigation would not add to the safeguarding investigation or achieve a different outcome. We also cannot or would not achieve the outcome Mrs X seeks.

The complaint

1. Mrs X is Mrs Y’s daughter. The late Mrs Y was in Glottenham Manor Nursing Home, a placement commissioned and partly funded by the Council. Mrs X complains the care home:
1. allowed a carer about whom staff had concerns to roughly wash Mrs Y, which led to the carer’s dismissal;
2. failed to make sure Mrs Y always took her medication, was offered and provided sufficient food, and moved into the correct position for her to eat;
3. failed to provide Mrs Y with incontinence, catheter and personal care;
4. did not respond in a timely way to Mrs Y’s call bell, including when she was using a bed pan;
5. failed to replace Mrs Y’s damaged clothing or other belongings and overcharged for products they bought for her;
6. failed to clean Mrs Y’s room before she returned from a hospital stay or keep the room clean at other times;
7. did not involve Mrs Y in activities at the home;
8. failed to tell her when Mrs Y had been admitted to hospital.
2. Mrs X says Mrs Y’s experiences at the home were poor. She says the matters have caused upset and anger to her and the family. Mrs X says she wants justice for Mrs Y. She also wants the Council to admit they were wrong and to apologise to the family.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement; or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation; or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome; or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information from Mrs X and the Council, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The core complaint issue is about the standard of care Mrs Y received. The primary impact of the majority of the issues Mrs X has raised was on Mrs Y. We focus our investigations on matters where there has been significant personal injustice, but also where we can then provide outcomes for the recipient of the service. We cannot provide such outcomes where the service user has died. We are unable remedy any injustice to the late Mrs Y so will not investigate.
6. We recognise the matters also affected Mrs X and wider family. That the care did not meet the standard she wanted for Mrs Y, and the home not advising of Mrs Y’s admission to hospital, would have caused understandable anger, upset and distress. But the amount of additional injustice to Mrs X and the family stemming directly from the matters complained of is not sufficient to warrant an investigation by us.
7. The Council’s complaint response indicates some of Mrs X’s issues about Mrs Y’s care were the subject of a safeguarding investigation. After considering the matters, the outcome of the investigation into those issues was officers found no evidence of neglect. We could not add to the Council’s safeguarding investigation and an investigation by us would not lead to a different outcome.
8. A key remedy Mrs X wants from her complaint is justice for Mrs Y. But we cannot provide such a remedy now as Mrs Y has died. Mrs X also wants the Council to accept it was wrong and apologise to her and the family but we do not investigate to achieve apologies. That we cannot or would not achieve the outcomes Mrs X wants from the complaint is a further reason why we will not investigate.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because:
• there is insufficient significant personal injustice we can remedy to warrant an investigation; and
• we could not add to the Council’s safeguarding investigation and an investigation would not lead to a different outcome; and
• we cannot achieve the outcomes she wants from the complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman