Summary: Mrs F has complained about her mother’s treatment by a Trust and the handling of her discharge from hospital by the Trust and a Council. I will not investigate this complaint as it is late.

The complaint

1. Mrs F is unhappy with the treatment of her mother, Mrs G, by University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust) and how her discharge to a care home was handled by both Dorset Council (the Council) and the Trust in 2019. Specifically, Mrs F has complained the Trust did not treat her mother’s ankle appropriately and the Council misinformed her and charged her mother care home fees.
2. Mrs F said the result of these issues was her mother went into a care home for 12 weeks which cost the family nearly eight thousand pounds. This has caused Mrs F a great deal of distress. As a result of the complaint Mrs F would like the care home fees to be waived.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Ombudsmen have the power to jointly consider complaints about health and social care. Since April 2015, these complaints have been considered by a single team acting on behalf of both Ombudsmen. (Local Government Act 1974, section 33ZA,as amended, and Health Service Commissioners Act 1993, section 18ZA)
4. The Ombudsmen cannot investigate late complaints unless they decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to the Ombudsmen about something an organisation has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended, and Health Service Commissioners Act 1993, section 9(4).)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the Mrs F, the Council and the Trust.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
7. Mrs F provided comments on my draft decision which I considered before making this final decision.

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My assessment

8. Mrs G has dementia but does have capacity and has given permission for Mrs F to complain on her behalf.
9. In March 2019 Mrs G suffered a broken ankle and was admitted to hospital. She had previously been living with Mrs F and her family. The Trust treated Mrs G’s ankle and she then moved to a care home in April 2019. She stayed there until July 2019 when she returned to Mrs F’s home.
10. Mrs F was unhappy with the conservative treatment of her mother’s ankle which she felt hindered her rehabilitation and meant that she had to enter the care home. She was also unhappy that, although she told the Trust and the Council that her mother funded her own care but could not afford a stay in a care home, they both told her that her mother would not pay any more than her monthly pension amount.
11. The Trust has explained its treatment of Mrs G and the Council has said the funding for the care placement was always going to be means tested which then led to Mrs G being liable for the full care home fees.
12. Mrs F followed the complaint processes with the Trust and Council in 2019 and 2020 before approaching the Ombudsmen in June 2021.
13. Mrs F has said one of the reasons for the delay in bringing the complaint to the Ombudsmen was her and her husband were caring for their mother at home in a small cottage. She also found the two complaint processes with the Council and the Trust and the responses she received from both “confounding”. In addition, following the COVID 19 pandemic the family had the responsibilities of home schooling one son, and their other son was suffering from severe mental health issues which also took a large amount of their time. In addition, following the final response from the Council in December 2020, Mrs F said she missed the email containing this response and only saw it in June 2021 when she then approached the Ombudsmen.
14. Dealing first with the complaint about the Trust, Mrs F was unhappy with her mother’s treatment as far back as April 2019. However, she did not make a complaint to the Trust until a year later in April 2020. Although I understand that the family were looking after their mother, they were also pursing the complaint against the Council during this time and so could have pursued it earlier with the Trust. In addition, the Trust referred her to the Ombudsmen in July 2020, but she did not approach us until June 2021. Many of the issues that the family suffered due to COVID 19 occurred 12 months after Mrs F could have made her complaint to the Trust. Therefore, she has not given a satisfactory explanation for the delay in pursuing her complaint with the Trust and then coming to the Ombudsmen.
15. Regarding the Council complaint, Mrs F first approached the Council in June 2019. The Council responded and Mrs F complained again to which she received a response in August 2019 from the Council who advised her to approach the Ombudsmen.
16. Mrs F complained to the Council again in September 2020 on issues which were essentially the same as before, and received a final response in December 2020. She has said she did not find this response until June 2021 when she approached the Ombudsman.
17. I have taken into account the difficult circumstances the family were under including looking after Mrs G, working and supporting children with mental health issues and home schooling. However, Mrs F was first directed to the Ombudsmen before most of these issues arose. In addition, even whilst these issues arose and were ongoing, she was still able to pursue complaints with both the Trust and the Council and so could have approached us earlier.

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Final decision

18. We should not investigate this complaint because the case is outside our time limit, and I have not seen persuasive evidence for setting aside this limit.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman