The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about how the Council considered her mother’s care and support needs. There is not enough evidence of fault and the Council have already addressed the issues it needed to have done, so we could not add anything to its investigation.
The complaint
Miss X complained on behalf of her mother Ms Y, about several matters relating to her care and support needs. She said the Council: Did not consider her concerns as a safeguarding matter; did not ensure care notes were accurate, and; treated her differently after she complained and did not respond to her.
Miss X said this caused her stress.
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 impact 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 or continue an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Miss X told the Council about what she said were safeguarding concerns relating to her mother’s care and support needs. Miss X said this was about Ms Y’s medication and information that was recorded on her care assessment documents. Following her initial complaint, Miss X raised two further complaints about matters also linked to Ms Y’s care and support needs.
The Council responded to Miss X and gave her an explanation for why it decided a full safeguarding response was not needed when she raised her concerns. We will not investigate these matters, because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
The Council also investigated Miss X’s complaints about what information it had recorded on Ms Y’s documents. It acknowledged errors had been made and apologised. We will not investigate these concerns, because the Council has already addressed the issues and apologised. We could not add to its investigation here.
Finally, Miss X said she was treated differently after she complained to the Council and I have not seen any evidence of fault in the Council’s response, or consideration of her complaints.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint, because there is not enough evidence of fault, and the Council have already addressed any issues it needed to have.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman