Summary: The Ombudsmen will not investigate this complaint as it is unlikely an investigation would lead to evidence based findings of fault leading to a personal injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr A complains that Newcastle upon Tyne Council (the Council) and Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust) are ‘lying about me to attempt to cover up the Human Rights Abuse I have been subjected to’. He also believes they are ‘involved in a course of action to attempt to get me evicted from my home’.

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The Ombudsmen’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsmen have the power to jointly consider complaints about health and social care. Since April 2015, a single team has considered these complaints acting on behalf of both Ombudsmen. (Local Government Act 1974, section 33ZA,as amended, and Health Service Commissioners Act 1993, section 18ZA)
3. 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
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Health Service Commissioners Act 1993, section 3(2) and Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the papers Mr A submitted to the Ombudsmen and spoke to him on the telephone. I shared a confidential copy of my draft decision with Mr A and invited his comments on it.

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What I found

5. In late December 2020 Mr A wrote to the Council and Trust. He described an altercation with the tenant of the property above his own. Mr A said the tenant said ‘I was going to be evicted and that he has had that confirmed by the High Court and that Mental Health Services are involved’.
6. Mr A complained that both Council and Trust staff were lying about him and involved in trying to have him evicted from his home.
7. We will not normally investigate a complaint unless there is good reason to believe that the complainant has suffered a significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the service provider. Further, we will not investigate a complaint where the link between the claimed injustice and the actions or omissions of the body (or bodies) complained about is weak or unclear.
8. In this instance we do not have any details of:

• What information is alleged to have been shared and/or fabricated,
• Which members of staff are alleged to have shared the information, or how (i.e. verbally or in writing, or formally or informally),
• Who it is alleged the information has been shared with, or
• When and how the recipients used the information.

9. Other than Mr A’s neighbour’s comment to him we do not know if there is an active Court case against Mr A or if there are any active plans to evict him. Further, both court proceedings and eviction notices would be outside the responsibilities of the Trust and Council, and outside of the Ombudsmen’s remits.
10. Overall, in view of the nature of this complaint it is improbable that an investigation would lead to findings of specific, significant fault which could be directly linked to an injustice caused by the Council or Trust. As such, it would not be a proportionate use of the Ombudsmen’s resources to conduct an investigation of this complaint.

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Decision

11. The Ombudsmen will not investigate this complaint as it is unlikely we would make evidence based findings of fault leading to a personal injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsmen

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman