Reasonable adjustment
13. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has (or had) the option to take legal action, unless we consider this is (or was) unreasonable in the circumstances. We have discussed this with Mrs E to understand her circumstances and the outcomes she wants. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look into.
14. When Miss E is admitted to hospital, Mrs E says they travel by ambulance and she stays with her all day. Mrs E says she supports Miss E with full care while she is in hospital. She explains Miss E cannot use a call button to call for help, is non-verbal and needs her to advocate for her because her understanding is like that of a two-year-old. She says for these reasons the Trust should make a reasonable adjustment.
15. In 2022, the Trust said it decided not to let parents of adult in-patients stay in the ward overnight. It says this is ‘due to staff need to consider the privacy of other patients who can feel vulnerable at night. Having several parents on the ward who may walk around at night can impact other vulnerable patients and their sleep.’
16. It also said: ‘parents sleeping at the bed space can impact on the care provided to a patient if an emergency situation should arise. As parents who are asleep are not providing care, it is safer for the patients on the Unit if the parent is able to rest in our on-site accommodation. Due to these reasons, the team has agreed that it is not appropriate or safe to have parents or carers sleeping in the bed space in an adult care setting such as [the] Unit.’
17. There is a clear legal route available that Mrs E could use to try to achieve her outcome of a reasonable adjustment. She could make a claim under the Equality Act 2010.
18. We cannot achieve the outcome Mrs E wants. At the most, we could only ask the Trust to look at its process for considering her reasonable adjustment request again. We could not ask the Trust to change its decision.
19. In our discussions with Mrs E, she suggested that if her complaint with us was not successful, she would consider a legal route. This shows she is capable and able to look into legal action.
20. We have explained to Mrs E that should solicitors not accept her case, she is able to return to us. If she does decide to return to us, we would ask her to do this as soon as possible as we have a time limit for looking at complaints. We cannot consider complaints brought to us over one year from when a person became aware of their reason to complain, unless there are strong reasons to.
Booking onsite accommodation
21. Before we decide if we should do a detailed investigation of a complaint, we look at whether there are signs the event complained about had a negative effect which the organisation has not put right. We looked at this and we think the Trust has already done enough to put right the impact of what happened.
22. The Trust said: ‘this was investigated the following day and occurred as a result of human error. The administrative team sent their emails requesting accommodation and transport for [Miss E] but overlooked to copy this email to the ward clerk who makes the booking. [The ward manager] wishes to offer her apologies to you for this error.’
23. It seems the Trust should have booked accommodation for Mrs E and this caused her some distress and inconvenience. Our ‘Principles of Good Administration’ say organisations should deal ‘with people helpfully, promptly and sensitively, bearing in mind their individual circumstances.’ This is what should have happened. The Trust has admitted this did not happen.
24. Our ‘Principles of Good Complaint Handling’ say ‘There is a wide range of appropriate responses to a complaint that has been upheld. These include: an apology, explanation, and acknowledgement of responsibility.’ They may also include ‘taking remedial action.’
25. The Trust’s response offers an apology, an explanation of what went wrong and an acknowledgement of responsibility.
26. The Trust added: ‘In future, the admission clerk will check all transport and accommodation requests for the following week to prevent this from recurring. Upon arrival, all carers will be advised to attend to collect their accommodation keys as early as possible during office hours to ensure any errors can be promptly remedied.’
27. This shows the Trust has taken action to put things right and to make sure the same error does not happen again.
28. In summary, we can see the Trust did something wrong in not booking accommodation and this caused Mrs E some inconvenience. The Trust has accepted it could have done more and has taken appropriate steps to make sure this does not happen again. We appreciate Mrs E felt distress and inconvenience but it is difficult to see what more the Trust could do.
29. We are sorry for Mrs E’s experience at the Trust and the impact this has had on her and her daughter.