Summary: We will not investigate Mr and Mrs X’s complaint about the care from the Care Provider commissioned by the Council for their late son Mr Y and the events prior to his death. There is no worthwhile outcome achievable from an investigation of Mr Y’s care provision. Investigation of the Care Provider’s actions or inactions in the period before Mr Y’s death would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mr and Mrs X are the parents of the late Mr Y. Mr Y had mental and physical health conditions and from 2020 lived in a Care Provider’s supported living placement, a placement funded by the Council. Mr and Mrs X complain the Care Provider commissioned by the Council:
1. failed to give Mr Y proper care during his time in the placement;
2. failed to meet their duty of care towards Mr Y by seeking medical help for him on the night he died.
2. Mr and Mrs X say Mr Y’s health deteriorated while in the placement. They consider the home’s staff not testing Mr Y’s breathing as required led to pneumonia which was a cause of his death. Mr and Mrs X and a GP they have spoken to consider that if staff had sought medical attention for him, Mr Y would still be alive. They have been deeply saddened by Mr Y’s death.

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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:

• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation; or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(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 Mr and Mrs X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr and Mrs X consider the Care Provider provided by the Council did not give Mr Y appropriate care during his stay which caused his condition to worsen. Mr Y was in a supported living placement and was given help to maintain his living space and do household tasks such as washing. Mr Y had control over his lifestyle, including his diet, activities and social interactions. The Care Provider says Mr Y’s mental health condition was stable and he had capacity to make his own decisions, even if they may have adversely affected his physical health. Mr Y’s health care was a private matter and not one with which the Care Provider could be involved, only to the extent Mr Y wanted them to be.
6. We recognise Mr and Mrs X would have been caused upset by Mr Y’s condition while he was at the home. But if there were failures in the way the Care Provider gave Mr Y’s care, the injustice caused by any such fault would have been primarily to Mr Y. We cannot provide a remedy to Mr Y as he has died, so there would be no worthwhile outcome investigation by us of this part of the complaint would now achieve. We will not investigate where an investigation cannot provide a remedy because the person who could have been affected has died.
7. Mr and Mrs X also complain about the Care Provider’s staff not seeking medical help for Mr Y in the hours leading up to his death. They consider this contributed to or caused his death. We recognise Mr and Mrs X have been understandably greatly distressed by the loss of Mr Y. But if we investigated, we could not find any action or inaction by the Care Provider caused or contributed to his death. The role of the coroner was to consider the full context of the death. If the coroner considered Mr Y’s Care Provider somehow caused or contributed it, it was possible for them to make that finding. Mr and Mrs X have provided a copy of the coroner’s report and it does not make such a finding against the Care Provider. An investigation by us cannot add more findings to or alter the decisions already made and issued by the coroner. Investigation of this part of the complaint would not lead to a different outcome so we will not do so.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr and Mrs X’s complaint because:
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable from investigation of Mr Y’s care provision; and
• investigation of the Care Provider’s actions or inactions in the period before Mr Y’s death would not lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman