Summary: Miss X complained about the time the Council took to respond to a complaint she made in December 2015. There was no fault in the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council failed to respond to the complaint she made about the handling of issues she raised in December 2015 in a timely manner.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I spoke to Miss X and considered her comments.
5. I spoke to the Council and considered the information it provided. This included a chronology of events, details of safeguarding investigations it carried out, complaints correspondence and a ‘lessons learnt’ review published by the Council in March 2019.
6. I have written to Miss X and the Council with my draft decision and considered their comments before I made my final decision.

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What I found

7. Miss X’s mother, Mrs M, had been a resident of the Care Home since 2012. Mrs M died in 2018.
8. Since 2013, Miss X has raised numerous safeguarding alerts against the Care Home in relation to its care of Mrs M. Miss X also made a number of complaints to the Council about these matters. During this period of time, the Care Home and Ambulance Service raised a number of safeguarding alerts about Miss X.
9. In December 2015, Miss X emailed the Care Home and raised further issues with about Mrs M’s care. The Care Home responded later that month. It explained its findings and what actions it had taken.
10. Miss X also forwarded a copy of the email to the Council. The Council responded and stated it had spoken to the Care Home manager and investigated the Care Home’s response to Mrs X’s concerns. The Council said it was satisfied the Care Home had taken appropriate action.
11. Miss X continued to raise further, different, safeguarding alerts with the Council. After one meeting between the Council and Miss X, which was held in October 2016, the Council said it was going to carry out a ‘lessons learnt’ review into all incidents relating to Mrs M’s care from 2013 onwards. This would include the December 2015 issues. After the meeting Miss X emailed the Council and said she did not want her complaint putting on hold while a ‘lessons learnt’ review took place. She also said she was unhappy with how long the Council had taken to respond to her complaint.
12. The Council responded two days later. It said it would look at the 2015 incidents and the way the Council handled them as a separate matter to the review.
13. Throughout 2016 and 2017, there were over 40 meetings, including safeguarding care meetings, case conferences and meetings with Miss X to discuss existing and new issues raised by her.
14. In March 2018, the Council replied to Miss X about the issues she raised in December 2015. It explained the delay in its response was due to the significant number of other incidents and contacts with Miss X. The Council stated Miss X had received a response from the Care Home and it was satisfied with this and the actions the Care Home had taken.
15. The lessons learnt review concluded in March 2019. It reached a number of conclusions, including:
• there was a lack of expertise in working with challenging complainants, rather than a lack of expertise in safeguarding residents with dementia at the Care Home;
• the Safeguarding Board should develop procedures for dealing with persistent complainants;
• the criteria for receiving and closing repeat alerts should be clarified;
16. The Council issued the report to Ms X. She disagreed with its findings. The Council has given her the opportunity to make comments on the factual accuracy of the report.

My findings

17. The Council responded promptly to the December 2015 issues raised by Miss X. However, Miss X was unhappy with its response and raised a complaint. The Council agreed it would pursue the December 2015 issues as a separate issue to the lessons learnt review.
18. The Council responded to Miss X in 2018 about the 2015 issues. It explained the delay was due to the complexity of the issues raised since December 2015. It provided an explanation for why it was satisfied the Care Home and Council dealt appropriately with the issues in 2015.
19. Although the Council took a significant amount of time to respond the issues Miss X raised, under these specific circumstances I do not find fault. During the period between Miss X making the complaint and the Council’s response, dialogue between the Council and Miss X and other public bodies remained regular and ongoing. The situation then increased in its complexity when Miss X raised other, potentially more serious, matters. These matters linked to her 2015 complaints and became the focus of her interaction with the Council and other bodies. The Council decided it would not be meaningful to investigate one set of incidents in isolation of the others. This was a decision it was entitled to make and there was no fault in the way it was made.
20. The Council considered it was only able to provide a separate response to the December 2015 issues once the later issues had been concluded. This was an appropriate response under these particular circumstances.
21. And even if I did identify fault, the Care Home investigated and responded to Miss X’s concerns at the time and the Council’s response in 2018 provided no further outcomes or actions. The Council also apologised for being unable to respond earlier to the issue and explained why. The lessons learnt looked at how the Council responded to the safeguarding complaints made by Miss X over the period in question and came to detailed conclusions and made appropriate recommendations. I could not add to these previous investigations or achieve a different outcome.

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Final decision

22. There was no fault in the Council’s actions. Therefore, I have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman