London Borough of Harrow (23 007 920)
Category : Adult care services > Domiciliary care
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 17 Oct 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this late complaint about care provided to Mr Y. There is not a good reason for the delay in the matter being brought to the Ombudsman.
The complaint
- Mrs X complained about a care provider:
- Regularly visiting fewer times daily than it was commissioned for.
- Leaving her father’s (Mr Y’s) medication on the table for him to self-medicate.
- Providing incorrect information when challenged.
- Refusing to provide evidence of carer tracking to prove where carers were.
- Mrs X says this led to her not having trust for the Council, which commissioned the care provider, anymore as her father missed out on care. She wants the Council to ensure all carers are tracked by their mobiles.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council or care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr Y received care between 2020 and 2021 from the care provider. Mrs X raised concerns at the time with the Council. She did not receive a response from the Council in late 2021.
- The law says people must bring complaints to us within 12 months of events. Where an organisation does not respond to a complaint within 12 weeks, it is open to the complainant to contact us. We advise this on our website.
- Mrs X could have contacted us at the end of 2021, when she did not receive a response to her complaint. Instead, she let the matter lie until the Council sent an invoice for the care in early 2023.
- There is not a good reason for the delay in the complaint being escalated to the Ombudsman, and we will not consider the complaint now.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s late complaint because there is not a good reason for her delay in bringing the matter to the Ombudsman.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman