Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the quality of care in a care home. Mrs Y has now moved to different accommodation, and investigation would not achieve a different or more meaningful outcome.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the quality of care in her mother’s (Mrs Y’s) care home. Her concerns included insufficient personal care, lack of staff, male staff providing personal care, inappropriate diet and complaints not being properly considered.
2. Mrs X said the matter caused distress to Mrs Y and her four daughters. She said Mrs Y lost significant weight and suffered loss of dignity. She wanted Mrs Y’s dietary needs to be properly catered for and other improvements to be made. She also wanted staff training to be carried out.

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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:

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

(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 provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mrs X complained to us about her mother’s care in a residential home.
7. Mrs Y has since moved to new accommodation. Given the outcomes Mrs X sought related to improvements in the relevant accommodation, there is no longer a meaningful outcome that we can achieve for Mrs Y.
8. Mrs X is satisfied with Mrs Y’s new accommodation, but indicates there may be some dispute between family members. Any family member who does not agree the current accommodation is in Mrs Y’s best interests can ask the Council to consider the matter further and ultimately the Court of Protection can be asked to make a decision if necessary.
9. I have considered whether continuing with an investigation would be in the public interest. However I have decided there is not an overwhelming reason for doing so, and anybody who has suffered a personal injustice in the care home in question can bring a complaint to us themselves.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we could not achieve a different or more meaningful outcome by doing so.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman