Summary: We will not investigate this late complaint about the Council’s failure to arrange a continuing healthcare assessment. There is not a good reason Mrs X did not bring it to us sooner.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains her father’s (Mr Y’s) care home and the Council failed to arrange a continuing healthcare assessment between June and September 2020. Mrs X says this meant he did not receive nursing care which he required, and he was charged over £2,000 every 28 days during this period.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mrs X asked the Council in June 2020 to arrange a continuing healthcare funding assessment for her father as he required nursing care. The Council and the care home did not arrange this, then Mr Y passed away later in 2020. Mrs X made other complaints to the Council, and she says it delayed replying to those. In late 2021 Mrs X asked the Council to consider this particular complaint. The Council said it would not now consider a complaint about this issue as it was too late. There is not a good reason Mrs X also did not bring her complaint to us sooner.

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Final decision

6. We will not investigate Mrs X’s late complaint because there is not a good reason she did not complain to us sooner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman