Poor care, communication and involvement of patient in her own care planning

What happened

The patient had been under the care of the community mental health team for some years. They received care and support through the care programme approach, which assessed, reviewed and planned their care with them. In 2010, the patient started to raise concerns about the crisis team and their lack of support when they went into crisis. Their care had been ongoing since this time, and they had continued to raise complaints with the Trust about the lack of continuity, lack of support in a crisis, poor communication, staff attitude, and services they has been offered.

What we found

The patient’s care lacked continuity and they were not fully involved in their care planning. The Trust did not recognise these failings during local resolution. This distressed the patient and made them feel isolated because they felt they were not getting appropriate care. Despite these failings, the attitude and behaviour of staff involved in the patient’s care was appropriate and we found no fault in how the Trust handled their complaint.

Putting it right

The Trust apologised to the patient and agreed to complete an action plan to address its failings.