Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the care given to Ms X’s mother. This is because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the care given by her mother’s care provider. She complains the end-of-life care provided was inadequate. She also complains about delays in the Council responding to her complaint and in completing its S42 safeguarding enquiries.

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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 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.

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My assessment

5. The Council investigated Ms X’s concerns through S42 safeguarding enquiries.
6. The enquiry found:
• Mrs A became unwell on 1 November 2020 and the provider called 999 at the request of the family. The paramedics contacted the out of hours GP services, who prescribed end of life medications. The Council accepted it was likely Mrs A remained in an agitated state until the end-of-life medications were prescribed and administered on 2 November.
• The care provider had followed guidelines in their response to Mrs A losing weight and appropriately referred her to the community dietetic services.
• District Nurse services administered the end of life medication consistently from 3 November.
7. The Council contacted CQC about the concerns. CQC inspected the service and concluded the services required improvement and made recommendations. The Council also shared the quality concerns raised with its quality monitoring service and confirmed this service would continue to monitor the service.
8. Therefore, further investigation is not warranted as it would not lead to a different outcome, This is because the Council has identified learning points and made recommendations to the care provider. The Council also appropriately notified CQC of the concerns and confirmed it would monitor the service. There is nothing further we could achieve.
9. Finally, the Council accept there was a delay in responding to Ms X’s complaint and in completing its S42 enquiries. The Council acknowledged this caused Ms X an injustice and has apologised for this.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman