Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to move her relative, Mrs Y, into a specific nursing home. There is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council did not act in her relative, Mrs Y’s, best interests when deciding to move her to a specific care home following her hospital discharge.
2. Ms X says this accelerated the decline in Mrs Y’s health. Ms X says the matter has caused distress, anger and frustration. Ms X would like the Council to apologise and to discipline the decision makers to encourage better decisions in the future.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Following a hospital admission, Mrs Y required nursing care. Mrs Y did not have capacity to decide where this should be and did not have a lasting power of attorney in place for health and welfare.
7. A dispute arose among family members over two care home options in different locations. Due to the lack of consensus, the Council decided the Court of Protection would need to decide who should make the decision about where Mrs Y would live. It decided it was in Mrs Y’s best interest to discharge her from hospital whilst awaiting the Court of Protection’s decision. The care home Mrs Y was placed in was near her home address, which was in line with Mrs Y’s expressed wishes.
8. We will not investigate this complaint. The Council considered Mrs Y’s and the family’s views before deciding on the location of the temporary placement. Although Ms X was dissatisfied with the decision, there is insufficient evidence of fault in how the Council made the decision to warrant an investigation.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault in how the Council came to its decision.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman