Poor communication by hospital

What happened

Mr H complained that the Trust wrongly assumed that his mother-in-law, Mrs M's, health needs had not changed when it discharged her to a respite placement, and it did not carry out appropriate assessments. Mr H said the Trust did not update Mrs M's care plan and did not communicate with her care home. Mr H complained that Mrs M needed more care than she received when the Trust discharged her to the placement.

What we found

The Trust failed to communicate with the care home and potentially Mrs M did not receive all the care she should have done after her discharge. The Trust could not explain how it had decided Mrs M's needs had not changed, for example through a team assessment or review. We partly upheld the complaint.

The Trust did not fully address Mr H's complaints and had not recognised some failings.

Putting it right

The Trust apologised to Mr H for the failings we found and paid him £500 in recognition of the injustice suffered. It produced an action plan that identified how it would avoid similar failings happening again.