The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about poor care in care homes. This is because the complaint has been made outside our normal 12-month time period for investigating complaints. Even if we exercised discretion to investigate we are unlikely to achieve anything more.
The complaint
Mr Y complains that his relative, Mrs X, received poor care from two care homes over 7 months from July 2019. He says the poor care directly led to Mrs X suffering two fractures leading to her death in March 2020.
Mr Y would like an investigation as he feels that, but for the poor care, Mrs X would be alive today as she was in good health before she entered the care homes.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended) The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide we could not add to any previous response by the Council. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)) The Ombudsman will not generally investigate a complaint unless he is satisfied the matter has been brought to the Council’s attention and it has had a responsible opportunity to investigate and reply to the complaint. (Local Government Act 1974 section 26(5))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant. I also checked with the Council for its response to the complaint.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Part 3 of the Local Government Act 1974 give us our powers to investigate adult social care complaints. Part 3 is for complaints where local councils provide services themselves. It also applies where a council arranges or commissions care services from a provider, even if the council charges the person receiving the care. In these cases, we treat the provider’s actions as if they were council actions.
A council must make enquiries if it has reason to think a person may be at risk of abuse or neglect and has care and support needs which mean the person cannot protect themself. An enquiry is the action taken by a council in response to a concern about abuse or neglect. An enquiry could range from a conversation with the person who is the subject of the concern to a more formal multi-agency arrangement. A council must also decide whether it or another person or agency should take any action to protect the person from abuse. (section 42, Care Act 2014) In this case there are no complaint responses. The Council has told us that Mr Y’s concerns were addressed under its safeguarding procedures. It has provided us with a summary of the safeguarding concerns initially reported by the care homes as required under safeguarding procedures.
Overall, the safeguarding investigations found no evidence of harm.
With respect to the first fall that resulted in the fractured hip this did not progress to a full investigation. The Council says it started the safeguarding process by liaising with the Police and the hospital that Mrs X had been admitted to. It was asked by Mrs X’s family not to continue with safeguarding as there was an inquest ongoing and they would update as required.
The inquest requested by the family recorded a verdict of accidental death.
I will not investigate as the complaint has been brought late to the Ombudsman in November 2021. I see no good reason why it could not have been brought to us earlier. Even if we exercised discretion now, I doubt that we could achieve anything more. This is because, on the face of it, the safeguarding alerts were raised appropriately plus liaison was undertaken with third parties such as the Police and Hospital as required.
It was also open to Mr Y to complain to the Council first about the safeguarding investigations if he disagreed with the conclusions reached.
Final decision
I will not investigate as we are unlikely to be able to add to the response from the Council.
Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman