Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the care commissioned by the Council and provided by a care home to her late mother Mrs Y, the home’s communication with family and how it dealt with her complaint. An investigation could not achieve a worthwhile outcome, nor make findings regarding Mrs Y’s cause of death. We do not investigate internal complaint-handling where we are not investigating the core issues giving rise to the complaint.

The complaint

1. Mrs X is the late Mrs Y’s daughter. Mrs Y moved to a different care home when her previous home closed. She was there three weeks just before she died. Mrs Y’s placement was commissioned and partly funded by the Council. Mrs X complains:
1. the home neglected Mrs Y’s basic care needs, including her food and fluid intake;
2. home staff did not tell the family about Mrs Y’s weight loss and her food and fluid intake;
3. the care home’s responses did not acknowledge the severity of the complaint or take responsibility.
2. Mrs X considers the home’s lack of care caused Mrs Y’s death. She says the matter has caused great sadness, distress and frustration to Mrs Y’s family. Mrs X says the family could have done more if they had known more about Mrs Y’s situation, which they regret.

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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 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 from Mrs X, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The care home responded to Mrs X’s complaint. The replies recognised there had been errors in its records and processes in regard to Mrs Y’s food and fluid intake. But the home did not consider Mrs Y died due to the care it provided.
6. We recognise Mrs X and Mrs Y’s family have been caused some upset and distress by the issues raised regarding Mrs Y’s care, in addition to that which would be caused by the loss of a family member. But the injustice of any fault in that care was primarily to Mrs Y. We cannot provide a remedy to Mrs Y as she has died, so there would be no worthwhile outcome an investigation by us would now achieve for her. We will not investigate where an investigation cannot provide a remedy because the person who would have been affected has died. We understand Mrs X’s and her family’s injustice also involves feelings of remorse from not taking more action while Mrs Y was at the care home. But we could not say the outcome for Mrs Y or her family would have been different if the home had given them more information about her condition, over and above what family members saw during their visits to her. An investigation by us could also not remove the family members’ feelings of regret, so would not achieve a worthwhile outcome for them.
7. We further note Mrs X considers the care provision Mrs Y received was the cause of her death and was dissatisfied with the care home’s responses not accepting that responsibility. But an investigation by us could not make such a finding. There was a safeguarding investigation into the matter as well as police involvement, who did not take the case further. An investigation by us could not change or overturn the causes of Mrs Y’s death as recorded on the death certificate. That we cannot achieve this finding as an outcome is a further reason why we will not investigate.
8. Mrs X also complains the care home’s responses did not reflect the seriousness of the matter. We do not investigate a body’s complaint handling in isolation where we are not investigating the core issues which gave rise to the complaint. It is not a good use of our resources to do so. That limitation applies here so we will not investigate this aspect of the complaint.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because:
• an investigation by us could not achieve a worthwhile outcome; and
• we do not investigate complaint-handling where we are not investigating the core issues giving rise to the complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman