Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Care Provider’s actions in response to her late mother Mrs Y’s condition while at the care home. There is not enough evidence the care home’s actions caused injustice or amounted to fault to warrant us investigating.

The complaint

1. The late Mrs Y lived in Orchards Residential Home. Mrs X is Mrs Y’s daughter. Mrs X complains care home staff failed to send her mother to hospital when she reported Mrs Y had a swollen leg. Mrs X says the matter has upset her greatly.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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 we can remedy is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 34B(8) and (9))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

Back to top

My assessment

5. Mrs X visited Mrs Y in spring 2024 and found she had a swollen leg. Mrs X was concerned Mrs Y may have a blood clot and brought the matter to the attention of the care home staff. Staff placed Mrs Y on a list of residents to receive a GP visit. The GP visited Mrs Y three days later. They increased Mrs Y’s blood thinning medication, arranged for a blood test and a scan. The GP noted the swelling was not causing Mrs Y pain. The home advised Mrs X of what the GP had done. Mrs X accompanied Mrs Y to hospital a week later for the scan where Mrs Y was diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) but was not in pain.
6. The care staff made a professional judgement on the day of Mrs X’s visit that her mother did not require urgent medical attention. If Mrs X had concerns about Mrs Y’s condition, she might have sought immediate medical help for Mrs X. The care staff decision not to seek such help on the day of the visit is supported by the GP not referring Mrs Y to any emergency medical service three days later. There is not enough evidence the outcome would have been any different if the care staff had acted differently at the time of Mrs X’s visit to justify us investigating.
7. There is also not enough evidence the staff’s decisions when dealing with Mrs Y led to significant personal injustice to her by worsening her condition. If there had been an injustice caused to Mrs Y, we cannot now remedy it after her death four months later in summer 2024.
8. We recognise Mrs X says the matter has caused her great upset, particularly as Mrs Y has now died. The loss of a parent will cause distress. But we cannot say any actions or inactions by the Care Provider here were the cause of significant additional or avoidable upset to Mrs Y which warrants an investigation. We also cannot make findings on the cause or causes of a person’s death, so could not say the Care Provider’s actions had any role in Mrs Y’s demise. Only a coroner can make those kinds of decisions.

Back to top

Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence the Care Provider’s actions caused such significant personal injustice we could remedy, or that those actions amounted to fault, to warrant an investigation.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman