The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the care provided to Ms X’s mother by her care provider. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
The complaint
Ms X complains about the care provided by her mother’s care provider. She complains the end-of-life care provided was inadequate. She also complains about the outcome of safeguarding enquiries and delays.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X raised safeguarding concerns about her mother’s care provider. The Council commissioned this care provider. The care provider is in a different Council’s area, Council B.
Although the Council is responsible for addressing Ms X’s complaints about the quality of the care provided by the provider it commissioned, these complaints were addressed in Council B’s safeguarding enquiries. We have considered Ms X’s complaints about Council B’s safeguarding enquiries under a separate complaint.
The Council confirmed Ms X had not raised a complaint and it had not considered the quality of the care provided by the care provider. Therefore, the complaint is premature as we will not investigate until the Council has had the opportunity to respond to a complaint.
However, we do not consider it is proportionate to ask the Council to now investigate the complaint. This is because the Council was aware Council B would be completing safeguarding enquiries and that as part of this, would consider the care provided. It is unlikely a separate investigation by the Council would have led to different findings.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman