A Somerset council and health trust have been ordered to apologise for causing “distress” to a disabled woman and her brother.

The woman, known only as Ms B, died a few months after she had been admitted to a care home – and before a formal assessment of her needs had been properly completed.

Her brother, known as Mr A, complained to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman over the conduct of Somerset County Council and the Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

The council has apologised and admitted it “could have done more” to ensure Ms B had been properly assessed.

Ms B, who had severe physical disabilities, met with a council social worker in October 2016 after being admitted to hospital the previous month.

The trust assessed her at the end of October and recommended she could receive care at home – but Ms B said she would prefer to move into a care home and had enough money to do this.

Months later, Ms B was moved into a “premium room” at a care home, and Mr A asked the council to complete a financial assessment  – which was not completed until the middle of March.

Ms B died on April 17 – ten days before the council finally completed a retrospective assessment of her wider needs, which stated there was “no evidence” that she needed nursing care.

The ombudsman’s role is to investigate complaints about “maladministration” and “service failure” – instances in which local authorities and health providers are alleged to have not carried out their legal duties.

The Care Act 2014 stipulates that the council must assess someone’s care needs over “a suitable and reasonable time-scale” regardless of their financial position – including their ability to pay over the duration of their care.

The ombudsman criticised the council for not completing a formal needs assessment for Ms B – but said there was “no injustice” , since she “would have most likely moved to a residential home regardless”.

The investigation also found the council’s social worker had wrongly informed the trust’s nurse that Mr A’s power of attorney could be removed, which “caused him distress”.

The ombudsman ruled the nurse was “not at fault” for comments made during “a difficult conversation”, although Mr A had accused her of being “obstructive”.

However, it did find that her claims that Mr A had been obstructive were “inaccurately noted”.

The ombudsman has ordered both the council and trust to apologise to Mr A, and for the latter to correct its records about his conduct.

The ombudsman refused to grant Mr A’s requests that the outstanding fees be written off and that he should be awarded “a financial remedy” in recognition of the stress he had suffered.

It also did not uphold his claims that Ms B had been moved to a premium room before a care plan was in place, that the council had been “evasive”, and that the trust’s response to his concerns “contained lies and was inaccurate”.

A council spokesman said: “We have apologised for the county council aspects of this complaint, and acknowledge that we could have done more to assess the financial implications.

“We welcome the ombudsman’s view that there was no injustice caused by the council and that we remedied the situation at the time.

“We put improvements in place to prevent it happening again and handled complaints appropriately.”

The Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust did not respond to requests for comment.