Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the standard of care delivered by a Care Provider to her mother, Mrs Y, before she passed away. We have no jurisdiction to establish cause of death so cannot achieve the outcome Mrs X wants.

The complaint

1. Mrs X has submitted a complaint on behalf of her mother, Mrs Y, who is deceased. Mrs X complains the Care Provider failed to provide Mrs Y with the required standard of care whilst at the Care Home.
2. Mrs X says the Care Provider failed to spot warning signs Mrs Y was becoming seriously unwell, allowed Mrs Y to refuse medication, took no further action and did not provide updates about this to Mrs X who held a Health and Welfare Power of Attorney for Mrs Y.
3. Mrs X says this resulted in Mrs Y dying in distress and severe pain. Mrs X wants the Care Provider to take responsibility for its failings and neglect and make improvements for current residents at the Care Home.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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:

• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

(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 Mrs X and the Care Provider.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mrs X wants the Care Provider to admit its failings and neglect in the care it provided, which she believes led to Mrs Y’s preventable death before which she experienced significant pain and distress.
9. Mrs Y’s care has been the subject of safeguarding enquiries by the local council. The council found the Care Provider could have done more to check Mrs Y had sufficient capacity to make informed decisions about food, fluid and medication intake. The council made recommendations for improvement to the Care Provider as a result of its enquiries.
10. Mrs X’s desired outcome is a finding that the Care Provider was negligent. Mrs Y’s death has been the subject of a coroner’s inquest, whose role it is to seek to establish cause of death and make recommendations to organisations to help prevent future deaths.
11. It is not for us to trespass on the role the coroner has already performed in this case. Our role also does not extend to determining legal liability or negligence; those are matters for the courts. We will not investigate this complaint because we cannot provide the outcome Mrs X wants and we have no jurisdiction to do so.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we have no jurisdiction to establish the cause of Mrs Y’s death so cannot achieve the outcome Mrs X wants.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman