Mrs A complained about the care and management she received at one of the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board’s (“the Health Board”) hospitals in January 2022. She had complained to the Health Board in May 2024, but it had declined to investigate her complaint because it said her complaint was out of time. This was despite her providing mitigating factors for her late complaint.
The Ombudsman noted that under the relevant complaint regulations the Health Board can reject a complaint if not brought within 12 months of a person being aware of the problem. However, in doing so it must provide an explanation/rationale for not investigating. This did not happen in Mrs A’s case. In addition, it did not include the Ombudsman’s contact details in its letter to Mrs A, should she be unhappy with the Health Board’s decision.
As a resolution the Health Board agreed within 4 weeks to: a) Write to Mrs A setting out its consideration of her extenuating evidence and its rationale for not taking these into account and investigating her late complaint.
b) Apologise to Mrs A for not providing a rationale for the rejection of her complaint.
c) Undertake a review of its rejection decision letter template so that explanations/rationale are included for any future rejections and that the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales’s contact details are added.