HC-One No.2 Limited (24 020 830)
Category : Adult care services > Residential care
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 13 May 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a Care Provider preventing access to one of its residents. The Care Provider was acting on the wishes of the resident, who had capacity to decide. So, the actions of the Care Provider do not cause the claimed injustice. There is also nothing to now achieve as the resident has since died.
The complaint
- Ms X says the Care Provider allowed its resident, Ms Y, to be coerced into not seeing Ms X. It has been upsetting for Ms X.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 action has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
- it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
- we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.
(Local Government Act 1974, sections 34B(8) and (9))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Ms Y lived at Sheraton Court, a care home run by HC-One No.2 Limited (the Care Provider).
- Under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 the Care Provider must presume its residents have capacity to make their own decisions, unless there are good reasons to doubt otherwise. A person’s age is not a good reason to assume they cannot make their own decisions.
- Ms Y told the Care Provider she did not wish to see Ms X. The Care Provider says Ms Y had capacity to make this decision, and so it acted to meet the needs and wishes of its resident.
- Though I appreciate Ms X’s upset at Ms Y’s decision, it is not the Care Provider’s actions that cause Ms X the injustice she complains about.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because the Care Provider’s actions do not cause the injustice complained about. There is also nothing the Ombudsman could now achieve as Ms Y has since died.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman