Summary: We will not investigate Mrs Y’s complaint about the care her husband received at a care home. The complaint is late and there is no good reason to exercise our discretion and investigate.

The complaint

1. Mrs Y complains about the care her late husband, Mr X, received at Highbury House Care Home in 2023.
2. Mrs Y says she has been left feeling numb and feels Mr X’s life was shortened by his stay at Highbury House. She would like the Care Home to be more responsive to relatives raising their concerns to it.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a /care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. 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:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, 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

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Care Provider.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mrs Y complains about the care Mr X received at Highbury House Care Home in 2023 for six weeks. (This was residential care funded by the Council).
8. Mrs Y says that Mr X suffered ‘neglect and abuse’ by care staff.
9. Mrs Y says the Care Home said Mr X was unable to be showered or sit in his wheelchair. She says when Mr X went to stay at a different Care Home a few months later, he was showered daily and used his wheelchair.
10. Mrs Y also said she had to press Care Home staff to call for a doctor when Mr X was unwell. She says this resulted in Mr X being admitted to hospital with severe dehydration and kidney failure. And that he was discharged from hospital to a different Care Home where the care was better in comparison.
11. Turning to the Care Home’s response to Mrs Y, I note it has apologised for any distress caused. It says it could not meet some of their care expectations based on risk assessments. It acknowledged that Mr X had some unsettled nights, and staff could not attend immediately when he called. It offered to discuss any outstanding concerns.
12. We will not investigate this complaint because it is late. This is because Mrs Y did not contact us within 12 months of receiving the Care Home’s response in 2023 but over 17 months later.
13. Even if we did exercise discretion and investigate, it is unlikely we could achieve anything meaningful. The specific events Mrs Y complains about took place in 2023. Due to staff turnover and faded memories, in our experience, it can be very difficult to achieve anything worthwhile when investigating late complaints.
14. I also note the Care Home has provided an apology for any distress caused. It has explained that risk assessments informed the reasons for some of their care expectations not being met.
15. That Mr X could manage different activities in a different care home is not evidence of care failings during a previous care home stay.
16. Further, we would not be able to make any causal links between the care received and how long Mr X lived. Only a coroner or the courts can do that.

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Final decision

17. We will not investigate Mrs Y’s complaint because it is late.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman