Summary: Mr X complained the Council failed to carry out a safeguarding investigation into his concerns about the care home where his late mother had lived. He felt there were errors in how the care home cared for her hearing. We have discontinued the investigation as we cannot achieve the outcome Mr X is seeking and there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by investigating the complaint now.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council failed to carry out a safeguarding investigation into his concerns about the care home where his late mother had lived. Mr X had told the Care Quality Commission (CQC) the care home failed to properly care for her hearing which made her deafness worse. The CQC told him the Council said it did not meet the threshold for a safeguarding investigation.
2. Mr X says this caused Mrs Y and the family distress and trauma and the impact on her hearing made her dementia worse.
3. Mr X is seeking a refund of 50% of the care home fees he paid.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will 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)

5. 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 council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended) Mr X complained to the Ombudsman in October 2020. I have decided to look at events back to October 2019, when Mr X wrote to the CQC. Mr X has given me no good reason why he could not have complained to us sooner about any earlier events involving the Council.

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

6. I have considered the information supplied by Mr X, and the Council’s complaint responses and correspondence with Mr X.
7. I gave Mr X and the Council the opportunity to comment on a draft of this decision and I considered the comments I received in reaching a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

Background

8. The following is a summary of key background events.
9. Mrs Y had hearing difficulties and dementia.
10. In January 2019 Mrs Y moved to care home A following a stay in hospital. This was privately funded, and the Council was not involved in the move.
11. In February 2019 Mrs Y saw an audiologist regarding her hearing aids. Mr X says they recommended she had the wax removed from her ears as this impacted upon the effectiveness of the hearing aids.
12. In March 2019 a doctor from the NHS mental health team carried out a review of Mrs Y at the care home. They noted the care home had no concerns and Mrs Y’s only problem was the hearing impairment and that she was currently waiting for a hearing aid. At a further review in June 2019 the doctor noted Mrs Y remained settled but was hard of hearing.
13. In June 2019 Mr X employed a private company to remove Mrs Y’s earwax.
14. In October 2019 Mrs Y moved to a different care home.

Safeguarding

15. Mr X raised his concerns with the CQC about care home A. It responded in November 2019. It said it had ‘reviewed the information you have submitted and also spoken with the local authority safeguarding team, who do not believe it meets their threshold for further investigation. I have also spoken with the assistant manager at [care home A]. I have recorded your concerns and they will be used to inform the planning of the next inspection’. It advised Mr X to come to us if he had a response from care home A and remained unhappy.
16. Mrs Y died in spring 2020.
17. Mr X complained to the Council about issues relating to Mrs Y’s care. The Council explained issues around Mrs Y’s deafness and ear wax removal were issues for the NHS. Issues about care home A should be raised with the care home directly as it was privately funded. Mr X complained to us.

Findings

18. Mr X is unhappy the Council did not investigate his concerns about his late mother’s ‘enforced deafness’ as a safeguarding issue. I do not intend to investigate this further. Mr X received his response from CQC after Mrs X had moved to an alternative care home. The purpose of safeguarding is to protect from harm or risk of harm. There is no evidence Mr X raised a safeguarding alert with the Council at the time he says his mother was subject to ‘enforced deafness’ at care home A, and there is no worthwhile outcome I could achieve by investigating this now. Any safeguarding investigation by the Council would not have achieved a different outcome for Mrs Y as she had already been moved from any alleged harm or risk of harm when she moved care homes.
19. Even if I were to find fault, I could not achieve the outcome Mr X is seeking. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by fault and look to remedy that injustice. The care home fees are not an injustice arising from any potential fault in the Council’s safeguarding process. In addition, even if we found fault with the Council, we could not remedy any injustice to Mrs Y as she has since died.
20. Mr X wants a partial refund of his mother’s care home fees. Any refund of the care home fees would be a matter between Mr X and the care home not the Council as the care was funded privately.
21. Mr X has raised issues about what happened at care home A. As the stay was privately funded, any complaint about the care home would be a matter for the care home, not the Council, to address.

Back to top

Final decision

22. I have discontinued my investigation as I cannot achieve the outcome Mr X is seeking and there is no worthwhile outcome I could achieve by investigating this complaint now.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman