Summary: Miss X complains her father’s care home failed to take appropriate action when he fell ill. The Council has accepted care records from time were inadequate. It has agreed to write to the family to apologise and pay £1000 to acknowledge the distress and time and trouble they have been caused by this. There is nothing further we could achieve from an investigation and so we will not investigate this complaint.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains her father, Mr Y passed away after the care home, where he was living, failed to take appropriate action when he fell ill. Miss X believes her father’s death was preventable and says the situation has caused the whole family significant distress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code and Guidance on Remedies.
5. Miss X had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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My assessment

6. Miss X complained to the care home about what happened and also raised safeguarding concerns with the Council. The Council commissioned Mr Y’s care and so the Ombudsman considers that it is responsible for care services provided as well as the safeguarding investigation.
7. The care home investigation and the Council’s safeguarding investigation found evidence of poor record keeping by care staff at the home about Mr Y’s health and wellbeing. The Council’s safeguarding investigation made recommendations for action to be taken by the care home to improve internal practices and these were accepted.
8. We cannot establish what happened at the care home in the time leading up to
   Mr Y’s death. The poor records and differences between the recollections of staff and the family of what happened make this difficult. The poor record keeping is fault and this has caused the family significant distress as it has left them with a great deal of uncertainty about whether Mr Y was properly cared for and whether his death might have been prevented. The family have also been put to unnecessary time and trouble at what would have been an already distressing time.
9. We have written to the Council to recommend it apologises and pays the family £1000 to recognise the distress caused as a result of the poor record keeping and the unnecessary time and trouble they have been caused. The Council has accepted this recommendation. This is in line with our Guidance on Remedies and there is nothing further we could achieve. Therefore, we will not investigate this complaint.
10. The Council has already taken suitable action to resolve the underlying issues around record keeping in the care home.

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Agreed action

11. The Council has agreed to take the following action:
• Write to the family to apologise for the failings identified in the safeguarding report.
• Pay the family £1000 to recognise the distress and time and trouble caused as a result of the fault identified.
12. The Council should take this action within 4 weeks of our final decision.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council has agreed to take action to remedy the injustice caused and there is nothing further we could achieve.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman