What can SPSO do about a decision that a public authority has taken?

A public authority is generally entitled to make decisions about issues in their area. These are generally known as ‘discretionary decisions’.  If a member of the public complains to us that there has been administrative fault or service failure by the authority in reaching a decision, and that he or she has suffered injustice or hardship because of this, we may look at the complaint. We look at the process and procedures involved.  If these were not properly followed we may recommend improvements, including appropriate redress. We cannot, however, look at the merits of the decision, with one exception - we can look at clinical decisions made by or on behalf of the NHS. If someone complains to us about a decision and they’re simply unhappy with it, we will not look at it. (There may be other routes through which they can challenge it, perhaps via the political process, or there may be some right of appeal.)