Failure to discuss mother's transfers with the family

What happened

Mrs Y was transferred from an intensive care unit to a standard ward, and later from the ward to a community hospital. Sadly, she passed away in the community hospital soon after. Mrs A felt that the transfers were inappropriate and contributed to Mrs Y's death.

What we found

Mrs Y was clinically fit for both of the transfers, and there was no evidence that these contributed to her death.

However, the Trust did not discuss Mrs Y's transfer to the community hospital with Mrs A. Mrs A was upset as she only found out about this after her mother had been transferred.

Putting it right

The Trust wrote to Mrs A to apologise that staff did not talk to Mrs Y's family about her transfer soon enough.