Overview:

Summary

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigated a complaint about Coulson & Collins Care Home Ltd. We found the care provider did not correctly record and refund an overpayment for the complainant’s late father’s care, incorrectly charged an administration fee, and delayed responding to her. It means her father’s estate is at a financial loss and she has been caused uncertainty and distress, as well as the frustration of having to complain to us.

The Ombudsman’s recommendations

We recommended Coulson & Collins Care Home Ltd:

• Apologise for the faults we found.
• Refund £1,500 in overpayments and the administration charges for processing a refund.
• Pay the complainant £250 for distress and frustration.
• Review its service user contract to bring it in line with the Competition and Markets Authority’s consumer law guidance (2021).

Coulson & Collins Care Home Ltd’s response

The care provider has not done what we asked because:

• It says it apologised for the delay in responding to the woman’s complaint, before she came to us. It does not believe it should make any payments for uncertainty, distress and frustration.
• It will process and refund the administration fee if bank details are provided by us.
• It does not accept it was overpaid £1,500 in care charges.

The Ombudsman's response

We are not satisfied with Coulson & Collins Care Home Ltd’s response because it has not put right the injustice for the complainant. Its previous apology did not address additional fault and injustice found in our investigation and it is not for us to arrange our recommended remedy. It also means others are at risk of suffering similar injustice in future.

We will share this notice with the Care Quality Commission – the regulator for health and social care in England. They can use it in future inspections of Coulson & Collins Care Home Ltd.

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