The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint. This is because we would not be able to make a finding about what happened to Mr B in December 2018.
The complaint
Mrs B complained her late husband sustained injuries in his care home in December 2018. Mrs C says although she came to us in 2019, she was unable to pursue her complaint until now.
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 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 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs C says she wants to know what happened to her late husband in December 2018 and not knowing has caused her and her family sadness and heartbreak. Mrs C is also concerned other residents may be at risk of falls. However, we could not say what happened to Mr B in 2018. We could not now provide a remedy for any injustice caused by fault which might be uncovered during an investigation, and, although Mrs B and are her family wants answers, we cannot provide these. Mrs B want to know what the Council has done since 2018 to ensure other residents do not suffer as Mr B did. Mrs C can ask the Council whether it has made any changes since 2018 but given the passage of time since the incident occurred, policies and procedures may have been updated and there may not be a record of what happened to Mr B. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the regulator of care homes and can consider concerns about other residents who may be at risk of falls.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint because we could not achieve a worthwhile outcome given the length of time since the incident happened.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman