Summary: Miss X complains about how the Council communicated with her while she was in a care home placement awaiting rehabilitation. We will not investigate this complaint because the Council has already acted to address any potential fault and we are unlikely to achieve more.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the care she received after leaving hospital in May 2024 to a care home placement for rehabilitation and assessment. Her complaints include that:
• the Home was not suitable to meet her needs;
• there was a lack of physiotherapy or occupational therapy or referral;
• communication by social care team was poor.
2. Miss X says the faults with care and planning led to her stay at the care home being too long and the delays meant she was away from her son, which caused her worry and distress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
6. Miss X had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before reaching my final decision.

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My assessment

7. Miss X was in hospital in early 2024 following a car accident. When the hospital considered she no longer needed medical care, it arranged a placement in a care home so Miss X could receive input from physiotherapy and occupational therapy before she returned home.
8. The care home was outside Miss X’s local authority area and this caused some delay in arranging the recommended therapy. Miss X was also unhappy with the care she received and the facilities in the care home.
9. The care home placement was arranged and funded by health. The organisations responsible for providing physiotherapy and occupational therapy services are also health-funded. This complaint is only considering the Council’s actions, in particular its communication with Miss X.
10. The Council was not responsible for arranging the therapies recommended by the hospital. However, the Council has explained the social worker enquired with the relevant health organisations and provided information on Miss X’s behalf to speed up the referral process. When Miss X raised concerns about the effect the delay was having on her son, the Council contacted the relevant agency to ensure he was receiving support. This does not indicate fault this and it appears the contact with health agencies led to acceptance of the referral sooner than it would have been otherwise.
11. The Council has acknowledged there were difficult conversations between the social worker and Miss X. Some of this may have been due to some frustration of agreed services not being in place as Miss X expected, or the social worker not being clear about their role.
12. The Council noted when Miss X was finding communication with the social worker difficult, she asked them to stop contacting her directly and to communicate by email. The social worker agreed to this.
13. The Council’s complaint response apologised for how communication made Miss X feel and said the social worker and their manager had reflected on how they could have improved this. The Council also changed Miss X’s social worker to provide her with someone she could communicate better with. I consider this was a reasonable and proportionate outcome to this issue and investigation is unlikely to achieve more.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is unlikely we could achieve more by investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman