Poor discharge arrangements for terminally ill patient

What happened

Mrs G had a terminal illness and was to be transferred to a nursing home to be cared for at the end of her life. Her daughter, Mrs P, was concerned that she was too unwell to be transferred. Mrs P was also wrongly told she could not travel in the ambulance with Mrs G. The transfer went ahead but there was a breakdown in communication and Mrs G arrived at the nursing home before her room was ready. Mrs P briefly returned home once Mrs G was settled into her room, but she died within a few minutes. Mrs P complained about the discharge arrangements and the communication about the transport and discharge date.

What we found

We partly upheld this complaint. It was appropriate to discharge Mrs G, although the Trust did not consider all the factors needed for a safe and smooth transfer. The Trust had given Mrs P incorrect information about being able to travel in the ambulance alongside her mother. We were unable to conclude whether there had been any failings in the communication with the nursing home about the transfer details, but we did find there was poor record keeping about this issue.

Putting it right

The Trust apologised to Mrs P, paid her £500 and produced an action plan to make sure it learnt lessons from the complaint.