Durham County Council (25 006 763)

Category : Adult care services > Residential care

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 22 Oct 2025

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about residential care provided to Ms X’s mother because it is late.

The complaint

  1. Ms X complains about the care her mother received in a residential care home before she passed away. She says her mother fell and broke her hip, and the care provided to her around this was inadequate. The incident took place in June 2021.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. 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/care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
  2. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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Final decision

  1. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it is late and there are no good reasons to apply our discretion to consider it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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