Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s Safeguarding Team and the care Mrs Z received in her nursing home. We cannot achieve the outcome Mr B is seeking. And it would be reasonable for him to go to court about the matter.

The complaint

1. Mr Q is complaining on behalf of Mrs Z and her nephew, Mr B, about the actions of the London Borough of Brent. Mr Q said the Council failed to ensure Mrs Z was properly cared for in her nursing home. He said the Council was in breach of its contract and would like the fees Mr B paid on behalf of Mrs Z to be refunded.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Mr Q and Mr B provided. I considered Mr Q’s comments on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

What happened

5. Mrs Z lived in a nursing home commissioned by the Council. The Council part-funded Mrs Z’s nursing home fees. Mr B paid the remaining fees.
6. In 2018 Mrs Z was admitted to hospital. The hospital discovered she had severe pressure sores. Mrs Z was discharged to a different nursing home and died later in 2018.
7. In October 2018 the Council’s Safeguarding Team completed an enquiry into the care Mrs Z received at the nursing home. It did not uphold the allegations made about the care she received.
8. The Safeguarding Team later reviewed its enquiry after the Clinical Commissioning Group commissioned its own report. In December 2019 the Safeguarding Team upheld the allegations about Mrs Z’s care.
9. In 2020 Mr B’s solicitor sent a letter of claim to the Council alleging breach of contract and asking it to refund the fees he paid for Mrs Z’s care, along with compensation.
10. Mr Q later complained to us on behalf of Mr B. Mr Q believes Mr B had a contract with the Council for Mrs Z’s care. He also believes the Council breached the contract when it failed to ensure Mrs Z was properly cared for in the nursing home. Mr Q wants the Council to refund the fees Mr B paid for Mrs Z’s care and pay compensation.

Analysis

11. We will not investigate this complaint.
12. Mr Q wants the Council to refund fees paid by Mr B for Mrs Z’s care. An investigation by us is unlikely to result in us recommending the Council refund the fees. So we cannot achieve this outcome.
13. In any event, Mr Q is alleging the Council is in breach of contract. That is a matter for the courts to decide, not the Ombudsman. Mr B has already begun the legal process by instructing his solicitor to send a letter of claim to the Council. So it would be reasonable for Mr B to continue with his legal action if he thinks the Council is in breach of contract and he wants to recover the fees he paid.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate this complaint for the reasons given in the Analysis.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman