Failings in nursing care of woman in her nineties

What happened

Mrs Q was admitted to hospital with shortness of breath and chest pain. Staff diagnosed congestive heart failure and treated her with antibiotics. After her condition stabilised, staff moved her from a medical ward onto a nurse-led unit.

Mrs P did not think that Mrs Q was well enough to be on such a unit. She felt that the level of care on the unit was inadequate. Mrs Q's condition deteriorated and after a few days on the nurse-led unit, staff moved her back to a ward. She died a few days later.

Mrs P complained that a lack of care on the nurse-led unit had contributed to her mother's deterioration. She was particularly concerned that Mrs Q was not given a drip on the nurse-led unit, that nurses did not give her adequate attention or care, and that she was not moved back to a ward early enough. Mrs P was dissatisfied with how the Trust responded to her concerns.

What we found

The records that show that Mrs Q was fit to be moved to the nurse-led unit were inadequate. However, it did not seem that the move was ill-considered or inappropriate. Mrs Q did not need a drip while she was on the nurse-led unit and a drip might even have worsened her condition. However, some of the nursing care provided on the unit was inadequate.

Mrs Q's medical care on the nurse-led unit was adequate. It was difficult to be sure about whether Mrs Q should have been moved back to a ward earlier, but we did not believe that any shortcomings here caused Mrs Q's deterioration.

Because of the shortcomings in nursing care, we partly upheld Mrs P's complaint.

Putting it right

The Trust handled Mrs P's complaint appropriately but we asked it to apologise for the nursing failings it had acknowledged, and provide more information about lessons learnt.