Poor nursing care for a disabled man

What happened

Mr S is profoundly disabled and carers help him at home with 24 hour support and care. In 2013 he was admitted to hospital with a chest infection. His carers went with him to hospital to help with his routine care.

Mr S's health deteriorated while he was in hospital. He said that this was due to the poor medical treatment he received and the errors and oversights in his nursing care. He said there was poor communication with the nurses, a risk of pressure sores, and staff kept inaccurate records. Mr S eventually recovered and was discharged home.

Mr S complained to the Trust and received a response within three months. He raised a number of other issues in relation to the Trust's response and it was 11 months before the Trust addressed these points. He said these delays were avoidable, and complained to us.

What we found

We partly upheld this complaint. The medical care that Mr S received conformed to national standards, and the deterioration in his health in hospital could not be blamed on any acts or omissions on the part of doctors.

However, there were a number of shortcomings in Mr S's nursing care. Because nurses were content to allow Mr S's carers to provide his care, they failed to do the necessary assessment and risk planning. This was an integral part of their role and was particularly important as Mr S was disabled.

There were discrepancies in some of the nursing records. Fortunately, this did not have serious implications for Mr S although it was immensely frustrating for his carers.

Senior nursing staff failed to flag up two serious incidents that were similar in nature and compromised Mr S's safety. If staff had noted the first one, the second one may have been prevented.

The delays during the complaints process were excessive and avoidable.

Putting it right

The Trust acknowledged its failings and apologised to Mr S. It put together an action plan to show that it had learned from its mistakes so that they would not happen again.