The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Ms B’s complaint about care and support provided to her late aunt, Ms C. This is because another agency is better placed to provide Ms B with the outcome she wants.
The complaint
Ms B complained her late aunts, Ms C’s, care provider, Agincare, failed to ensure her bed was lowered resulting in her falling from a height. Ms B says Ms C was taken to hospital where she passed away. Ms B says this was a preventable death, which the Council considered as a safeguarding matter and found evidence of neglect. Ms B wants to see the Care Provider’s Independent Report into what happened to Ms C and for it to take action to ensure similar matters do not happen to anyone else.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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) We cannot investigate a complaint if it is about a personnel issue. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5a, paragraph 4, as amended) The Information Commissioner's Office considers complaints about freedom of information. Its decision notices may be appealed to the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights). So where we receive complaints about freedom of information, we normally consider it reasonable to expect the person to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner.
We normally expect someone to notify the Care Quality Commission about possible breaches of standards. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons to do so. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34B(8), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms B’s care was commissioned by the Council. We consider complaints against care providers acting on behalf of the Council as complaints against it.
Ms C wants access to the Independent Report completed by the Care Provider, but the Council says it cannot allow her to have a copy because it does not belong to it. We cannot tell the Care Provider to give Ms C a copy of its report. If Ms C believes she should have information she is entitled to have she can ask the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to consider whether she should have access to it. Information about the ICO can be found on the website below.
Contact us | ICO Ms C says the Care Provider’s actions caused Ms B’s death and says the Council’s safeguarding investigation into her concerns found evidence of neglect. We could not add to this or make a different finding. It is the role of the Council as commissioner of the care to ensure its Commissioning and Monitoring team are aware of its findings so it can monitor the provider.
Ms B says the carer was dismissed. We cannot comment on this point or consider complaints about individuals as these are personnel matters.
Ms B says she has contacted the Care Quality Commission (CQC) about her concerns but has not received a response. We cannot investigate the CQC. As part of our information sharing process, I will send the CQC a copy of this decision for it to consider during its routine inspections.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms B’s complaint because it would be reasonable for Ms B to ask the ICO to consider her request for information.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman