Failings in care and treatment given by nursing home

Summary 231 |

Mrs V complained that her mother, Mrs T, was not properly cared for at the nursing home and that the record keeping and communication were poor.


What happened

Mrs T was staying at the nursing home after she broke her leg. She was prescribed medication to prevent deep vein thrombosis, but her medication was wrongly discontinued. The nursing home then failed to spot and act on signs of deterioration and Mrs T sadly died.

Mrs V complained about her mother's care at the nursing home and said she thought her mother's death was preventable.

What we found

The nursing home wrongly stopped Mrs T's medication, but we could not say with certainty that this led to her early death. There were failings in the observation and care given to Mrs T so staff missed the opportunity for earlier treatment. The nursing home's written records were poor, as was its communication with the family. The nursing home carried out an inadequate investigation and did not acknowledge or learn from its failings.

Putting it right

The nursing home apologised to Mrs V and paid her £1,500 in recognition of the distress caused. It also changed its training and policies in order to stop this happening again.

Health or Parliamentary
Health
Organisations we investigated

A care home

Location

Greater London

Complainants' concerns ?

Did not apologise properly or do enough to put things right

Did not involve complainant adequately in the process

Did not keep proper records or audit trail

Did not take sufficient steps to improve service

Replied with inaccurate or incomplete information

Result

Compensation for financial loss

Recommendation to learn lessons or draw up an action plan