Summary: We will not investigate this complaint relating to medical care and safeguarding for the complainant’s father. This is because the medical issues are out of our jurisdiction and there is nothing that further investigation could achieve in relation to the safeguarding issues.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr X, says that:
• There were failings in relation to his father’s medical care, before his death;
• The Council has not considered properly his safeguarding concerns in relation to his father;
• The Council investigated unevidenced allegations against Mr X in relation to care for his father.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as NHSTrusts. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34A, as amended)
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 could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered the information provided by Mr X and by the Council. I have also sent Mr X a draft decision for his comments.

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What I found

6. Mr X’s father, Mr F, needed a significant amount of medical care in the last years of his life, including care in hospital.
7. Mr X raised several complaints regarding Mr F’s care, and these were considered by the relevant NHS Trusts and then the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. Mr X continues to be dissatisfied with these responses, and has complained to the LGSCO. We cannot consider these matters, as complaints about NHS Trusts are not in our jurisdiction, and they have been considered by the appropriate Ombudsman service: the PHSO.
8. Mr X also complained about safeguarding enquiries carried out by the Council between 2018 and 2020. He felt that they had not been properly conducted or sufficiently searching, as none were upheld.
9. The Council responded to Mr X’s concerns in July 2020. In relation to the safeguarding investigations it said that:
• It was satisfied that the enquiries led by the Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group in 2018 were appropriately undertaken, and declined to revisit the allegations;
• Mr X’s statements about allegations made in May 2019 were not made to the Council or recorded on its system, so they have not formed part of any safeguarding enquiries;
• Mr X was consulted about his father’s care as part of the safeguarding enquiries carried out in November 2019, and the matter was closed; and
• It was unable to comment on the section 42 safeguarding enquiry which was currently being undertaken, as it was not completed.
10. Mr X has now complained about these safeguarding enquires to the LGSCO but we will not investigate them. This is because there is nothing further that we can add to the Council’s response with reference to the first three items.
11. With reference to the final enquiry, in which the Council considered allegations against Mr X in relation to his care for his father, the enquiry was closed at the death of Mr F and no action was taken. Further investigation could not achieve an additional outcome.
12. Although Mr X says that the alleged failures in the safeguarding enquiries are indicative of systemic failures in the Council’s management of its safeguarding procedures, our role is to investigate complaints about alleged fault causing individual injustice.
13. Final decision
14. Subject to any comments Mr X might make, my view is we should not investigate the parts of this complaint relating to safeguarding enquiries, as there is no worthwhile outcome that we could achieve. We cannot investigate the allegations regarding medical care as they are made against a body which is not in our jurisdiction.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman