Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that her mother’s care home caused damage to her mother’s fridge cable. This is because an investigation would not lead to any findings or worthwhile outcome.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains her mother’s care home caused damage to her mother’s fridge cable. She says she now cannot sell the fridge on because of the damage.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms X’s mother was in a care home. She says when her mother’s fridge was returned to her, she noticed the fridge cable had been damaged and repaired with red tape.
6. In response to Ms X’s complaint, the care provider explained if the cable had been damaged by the home, it would have removed the fridge from service due to it being unsafe. The care provider also confirmed its maintenance team did not put any tape on the cable and that the home did not use red tape.
7. An investigation is not justified as it would not lead to any different outcomes or findings. I acknowledge Ms X considers it is obvious the home caused the damage. However, it would not be possible for us to make this finding, even on balance of probabilities, due to the conflicting account from the care home.
8. In addition, as it is likely we would not be able to make any findings regarding how the damage to the cable came to be, an investigation would not lead to any worthwhile outcomes. Therefore, an investigation would not be a proportionate use of our resources.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because an investigation would not lead to any findings or worthwhile outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman