Summary: Mrs X complains Georgiana Care Home, where the Council placed her late father (Mr Y), failed to protect his possessions resulting in them being lost or destroyed. The Care Home accepts this. The Council needs to pay financial redress to reflect the distress caused to Mr Y’s family. It also needs to ensure the Care Home has procedures in place to prevent similar losses in the future.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X, complains Georgiana Care Home (the Care Home), where the Council placed her late father, failed to protect his possessions resulting in them being lost or destroyed. She says this has caused the family great distress.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)
4. This complaint involves events that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government introduced a range of new and frequently updated rules and guidance during this time. We can consider whether the council and care provider followed the relevant legislation, guidance and our published “Good Administrative Practice during the response to COVID-19”.
5. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. Where an individual, organisation or private company is providing services on behalf of a council, we can investigate complaints about the actions of these providers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 25(7), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

6. I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by Mrs X;
• discussed the complaint with Mrs X;
• considered the comments and documents the Council has provided in response to my enquiries;
• considered the Ombudsman’s guidance on remedies; and
• invited comments on a draft of this statement from Mrs X and the Council, for me to consider before making my final decision.
7. Under the terms of our information sharing protocol with the Care Quality Commission, I will send it a copy of my final decision statement.

Back to top

What I found

What happened

8. Mrs X’s father, Mr Y, lived in the Care Home. He went into hospital in December 2020. His family did not know about this until it contacted the Care Home the next day. It told the family it had left a message on Mrs Y’s landline. When Mrs X complained about the failure to tell them on the day Mr Y went into hospital, the Care Home accepted it had made a mistake when recording Mr Y’s primary contact.
9. Mr Y died in hospital on 22 December. The Care Home packed Mr Y’s possessions into a suitcase and two laundry bags. There was also a walking stick and a TV. The Care Home left them in his room, which it locked.
10. On 23 December Mrs Y spoke to the Care Home about her father’s possessions. It told her it had packed them into bags and locked them in his room to keep them safe. Sometime later the Care Home moved Mr Y’s possessions to another room.
11. In March Mrs X contacted the Care Home as she noticed someone else was using her father’s phone number. After checking Mr Y’s packed possessions, the Care Home confirmed the phone was still there. When responding to her complaint, the Care Home told her this may be because his network supplier reused numbers which had not been used for 90 days.
12. On 13 March Mrs X’s brother e-mailed the Care Home about arranging a time to collect their father’s possessions. Nothing came of this.
13. On 26 March 2021 the Care Home moved Mr Y’s possessions to a third room, which it used to store mattresses and other things. It did not always lock the room.
14. The Care Home decided to clear the room. The person who cleared the room remembered disposing of old mattresses, black bags and a broken television (which had belonged to the Care Home) into four skips. They did not recall seeing a green suitcase, the laundry bags or Mr Y’s walking stick.
15. In early June a member of the Care Home’s staff noticed Mr Y’s possessions were no longer in the room.
16. On 25 June Mrs X called the Care Home about picking up Mr Y’s possessions and was told to come over.
17. On 26 June Mrs X messaged the Care Home about picking up Mr Y’s possessions but did not receive a response. Her brother went to the Care Home later that day but the person he spoke to did not know where Mr Y’s possessions were. He left his number but did not receive a call.
18. The Care Home responded to Mrs X’s message on 29 June, but did not mention Mr Y’s possessions.
19. Mrs X contacted the Care Home in October about picking up Mr Y’s possessions. The person she spoke to said she thought the family had already done this and did not know where they were. She said she had been on holiday when the room was cleared. She asked Mrs X what make of TV they had bought for Mr Y. Mrs X was upset by this as she was more concerned about the personal items, including glasses, phone, walking stick and a bible. The Care Home offered to call Mrs Y but Mrs X said not to do this, as someone should be with her when she was told her husband’s possessions were gone.
20. The Care Home agreed to ask anyone who might know what had happened to Mr Y’s possessions but did not get back to Mrs X. So she made a complaint.
21. When responding to the complaint in November the Heritage Group, which runs the Care Home, accepted the Care Home had made mistakes, including:
• failing to follow the correct procedures when Mr Y went to stay there, as there was no inventory of his possessions; and
• failing to protect his possessions after he died, despite promising to do so.
22. The Heritage Group apologised to Mrs X and identified these actions to prevent similar problems from happening again:
• improve complaint handling;
• appoint an operations manager to ensure residents’ possessions are given the time and attention needed;
• update the admissions procedure to make sure families were involved from the start; and
• check all contact numbers for residents’ families to ensure the Care Home contacts the right people in an emergency.

Is there evidence of fault by the Council which caused injustice?

23. There is no dispute over the fact that the Care Home failed to protect Mr Y’s possessions after he died. Although the country was in lockdown until 21 June 2021 because of COVID-19, his family should have been able to collect them without entering the Care Home. There was no need to move them from room to room without inviting his family to do so. The loss of Mr Y’s possessions has caused avoidable distress to his family, who wanted to keep some of them as mementos.

Back to top

Agreed action

24. When a council commissions another organisation to provide services on its behalf it remains responsible for those services and for the actions of the organisation providing them. So, although I found fault with the actions of the Care Home, I have made recommendations to the Council.
25. I recommended the Council:
• within four weeks pays Mr Y’s family £400 for the distress caused by the loss of his possessions;
• within eight weeks, provide evidence the Care Home has procedures in place to ensure it:
1. produces an inventory when someone moves there and updates it when necessary;
2. stores possessions securely after someone has left or died;
3. encourages families to collect them as soon as possible; and
4. does not dispose of possessions without first warning families of the intention to do so.

The Council has agreed to do this.

Back to top

Final decision

26. I have completed my investigation on the basis there has been fault causing injustice which requires a remedy.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman