Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the quality of care in a care home and the Council’s related actions. We cannot achieve the outcomes Mr X seeks.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about his mother’s (Ms Y’s) residential care. His concerns included Ms Y having suffered a preventable fall, insufficient continence care and neglect of oral hygiene and nail care.
2. Mr X also complained the Council did not move Ms Y to alternative accommodation at an earlier date.
3. Mr X said the matter caused significant distress to the family. He believed the accident and neglect contributed to Ms Y’s decline and death. He wanted management dismissals, for the Council to be disciplined, and for the Care Provider to be placed into special measures.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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 council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
5. 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, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, 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

6. I considered information provided by the complainant.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

The Council’s actions between 2022 and 2023

8. Mr X’s complaint about his view the Council should have moved Ms Y to alternative accommodation relates to a request he made in 2022. The Council considered this matter between 2022 and 2023 but Ms Y did not move.
9. It was open to Mr X to raise a complaint about the matter when Ms Y was not moved, and there is not a good reason for the delay in him raising this with the Ombudsman. We will not now investigate the Council’s actions between 2022 and 2023 as Mr X could have complained at the time.

The quality of care delivered by the Care Provider

10. The Council carried out a safeguarding enquiry into the quality of care Ms Y received. Several areas of concern were substantiated, and the Council identified actions the Care Provider should take to make service improvements. The Council also alerted its contracts team and the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
11. The Care Provider communicated sincere apologies to Mr X via its internal complaints process. It told him it had taken appropriate action in line with its HR processes.
12. Our Guidance on Remedies explains that we do not take action to punish people or organisations, and that we cannot ask organisations to discipline or sack staff members. We also have no power to place a care provider into special measures. CQC holds this power as the regulatory body for care providers. Given that CQC is aware of the case, it can consider the findings as part of its next inspection. Should it believe action against the Care Provider is required, it can take that action.
13. We could not add to the investigation the Council already carried out, and further investigation by us is unlikely to achieve a different or more meaningful outcome. We could not say the Care Provider caused or contributed to Ms Y’s death, as only the coroner could come to this conclusion. We could not achieve the outcomes Mr X seeks from complaining, and it is not proportionate for us to further investigate the matter given the actions already agreed by the Council and the Care Provider.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot achieve the outcomes he seeks from complaining to us.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman