Failings found in care given to terminally­ill patient

What happened

Mrs G was terminally ill. She had hearing loss, which meant the telephone was not an accessible way for her to communicate.

Her son, Mr H, was unhappy about the medical centre's communication with his mother. He said its telephone system was unsuitable for hearing‑impaired patients to book appointments. He also said that one of Mrs G's prescriptions went missing.

Mr H said that the medical centre did not give Mrs G enough information about her terminal prognosis or provide her with suitable end of life home nursing care and support.

Mr H wanted the medical centre to acknowledge that there were failings in his mother's care and to make sure they were not repeated.

What we found

There were no failings in the medical centre's system for booking appointments or in the initial correspondence with Mrs G. The centre was aware that the telephone was not an accessible way for Mrs G to book appointments and adapted its service by writing to her.

The home nursing it provided was appropriate and in line with the relevant guidance.

However, the medical centre did not tell Mrs G about her terminal prognosis or give her information that may have helped her. It did not have an action plan for older and terminally ill patients, and so did not give Mrs G the proper care and support she should have had.

The medical centre also accepted it had mislaid a prescription and it apologised for this. We were satisfied with its response to this.

We partly upheld the complaint.

Putting it right

The medical centre apologised for the failings in this case and prepared an action plan to make sure the mistakes are not repeated.