Buckingham (Bucks OPCO) Limited (25 018 835)
Category : Adult care services > Residential care
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 09 Apr 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Care Home’s poor care it had delivered to her late father, Mr Y, and its poor communication and record keeping. This is because the complaint is late. There are no good reasons why Mrs X did not complain to us sooner.
The complaint
- Mrs X complained the Care Home provided poor care to her late father, Mr Y. She also complained the Care Home poorly communicated with her and its record keeping was also poor. She said the matter caused her and the family distress. She wants the Care Home to make service improvements to prevent a recurrence of faults.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Care Provider.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr Y resided at the Care Home from mid-2023 until early 2024, when he died. Mrs X said during his time at the Care Home, the Care Home provided inadequate care to her father which included poor personal care, poor support with food and fluid intake and the Care Home delayed seeking medical advice when he had developed infections. Mrs X said the Care Home poorly managed her father’s medication and in particular, towards the end of his life. In addition, Mrs X said the Care Home’s communication and record keeping was poor.
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. This is because the complaint is late. The issues Mrs X complains of happened more than 12 months ago. Therefore, paragraph two of this decision statement applies. There are no good reasons why Mrs X did not complain to us sooner.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is late. The law prevents us from investigating late complaints unless there are good reasons why the complainant did not bring the complaint to us sooner.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman