Summary: Mr X complains about how a Council and NHS Trust provided care to his father and safeguarded both his father and his mother between 2022 and 2024. We cannot consider Mr X’s complaints about events between 2022 and 2023 because these are late. We will not consider a complaint about how medication was used in 2024 because this is being considered by the coroner. Once the coroner’s considerations are complete, Mr X can ask us to look at this part of the complaint.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the actions of East Sussex County Council (the Council) and Sussex Partnership NHS Trust (the Trust). He complains about events concerning his mother, Mrs Y, and his father, Mr Y, between 2022 and 2024. In particular, Mr X’s complaints include that the Council and the Trust:
• Should not have sent Mr Y home from a Care Home (Home A) because of the risk he presented to Mrs Y;
• Should have ensured Mr Y had adequate supervision at home;
• Should have sought assessment of Mr Y’s mental health;
• Did not provide satisfactory mental health care for Mr Y;
• Should not have placed Mr Y in a second Care home (Home B); and
• Did not listen to concerns about the use of Risperidone to control Mr Y’s behaviour.
2. Mr X says the failings with his father care placed him and Mrs Y at risk because of Mr Y’s behaviour. He considers the use of the antipsychotic medication, Risperidone, was a factor in his father’s death. Mr X says the stress of dealing with the events he complains about caused his mental and physical health to deteriorate. He wants a full investigation into what went wrong and guarantees that events he experienced are not repeated. He would like to receive apologies for any fault.

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The Ombudsmen’s role and powers

3. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and Health Service Ombudsman have the power to jointly consider complaints about health and social care. (Local Government Act 1974, section 33ZA, as amended, and Health Service Commissioners Act 1993, section 18ZA).
4. 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:

• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint, or

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

5. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something an organisation has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended, and Health Service Commissioners Act 1993, section 9(4).)
6. The Ombudsmen provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. They may decide not to start an investigation if they believe it would be reasonable to wait for the outcome of investigations or reviews by other organisations before considering a complaint. (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

7. I considered evidence provided by Mr X, the Council and the Trust as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.

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What I found

Brief background

8. In May 2022 Mr Y was admitted to hospital. The hospital initially discharged him to Home A in August 2022. From there he returned home. Mr X says the Council did not put a satisfactory care plan in place and Mr X had to support his father and mother. He says Mr Y’s behaviour was becoming increasingly difficult to manage.
9. After a further hospital admission, in January 2023 Mr Y moved into Home B. In February 2023 Home B gave notice to Mr Y after he was involved in an incident with another resident. Home B later withdrew the notice after it consulted the Council and arranged for extra care to be put in place.
10. In October 2023, the Trust reviewed Mr Y’s mental health needs. It found Mr Y was at an early stage of memory loss, but no concerns were noted about his ability to understand decisions about his care. The Trust considered Mr Y’s needs could be met in a care home setting and did not need admitting to a psychiatric unit.
11. In November 2023, Mr X complained to the Trust about Mr Y’s mental health care.
12. In December 2023 Mr X complained to the Council. This included concerns about the way it had assessed risk and safeguarding concerns after Mr Y’s hospital admissions, and left Mr X without support to care for his father.
13. In February 2024 the Council advised Mr X it could not consider his complaint because there were legal proceedings ongoing.
14. The Trust responded to Mr X’s complaint later that month. It advised Mr X that he should complain to the Health Service Ombudsman if he was unhappy with the outcome to his complaint.
15. In May 2024 Mr X complained to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman about the Council’s decision not to investigate his complaint. This was not upheld.
16. In July 2024 the Council agreed to investigate Mr X’s complaint.
17. In October 2024 Mr X wrote a further letter to the Council adding further complaints.
18. The Council responded to Mr X’s complaint in January 2025. It signposted Mr X to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman if he wanted to take his complaint further.
19. In June 2025 Mr X complained to the Ombudsmen.

My assessment

20. The Ombudsmen usually will not investigate late complaints unless they decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to the Ombudsmen about something an organisation has done.
21. Mr X’s complaints about the Council include issues that happened between May 2022 and February 2023. Mr X (and Mrs Y) were aware of the events that affected them at this time.
22. Some delay in Mr X complaining to the Ombudsmen is because of the Council did not consider Mr X’s complaint while legal proceedings were taking place. However, Mr X did not complain to the Council until December 2023. By this point, many of the matters complained about were already late. The same applies to when Mr X first complained to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman in May 2024. There was further delay progressing the complaint after the Council agreed to consider the complaint in July 2024. It was another three months before Mr X added to his complaint. Mr X then did not complain to us for five months after the Council issued its final response letter.
23. Mr X’s complaint to the Trust also concerns matters that happened in 2023. The Trust responded to Mr X in February 2024. The legal proceedings did not affect this complaint. The Trust also provided signposting to the Ombudsman in its response letter. Mr X did not pursue this part of his complaint further until after he brought the Council complaint to us in June 2025.
24. Mr X has explained that some delay was because of difficulty finding an advocate. He said it was also because he was raising concerns with the Council outside the complaints process, but not getting responses. Additionally, Mr X said the events caused him distress.
25. I acknowledge the effect the matters complained about had on Mr X. However, I have seen no good reason Mr X could not have complained to us sooner. Earlier complaints could have been made to the Council in particular, and both the Council and the Trust complaints could have been brought to us sooner after local resolution ended.
26. Mr X’s complaint about the use of Risperidone and his care towards the end of his life is not late. This happened more recently but this is currently being considered by the coroner. Until this consideration is finished, we could not properly consider the circumstances and make sound decisions. We could not say what injustice any fault caused, and whether investigation by the Ombudsman could achieve anything more.
27. Additionally, the organisations could unnecessarily duplicate work. The outcome of the coroner’s investigation may also provide Mr X with the outcomes he is seeking without the need for an investigation by the Ombudsmen. We therefore should not consider this part of Mr X’s complaint until the inquest has ended.

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Decision

28. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaints about the Council or the Trust. Some of his complaints to us were made outside our 12-month time limit and it would have been reasonable to complain to us sooner.
29. We will not consider Mr X’s complaint about Mr Y’s medication at this stage because it is reasonable to wait for the outcomes of the coroner’s investigation. Mr X can resubmit this part of his complaint to the Ombudsmen if he has outstanding concerns after the conclusion of the coroner’s investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman