Ms P complained about the care given to her father, Mr P. She said that his discharge was wrong and that Trust staff mislabelled his medication. She said this led to her father's physical condition seriously deteriorating. Mr P has since died.
What happened
Mr P had dementia. He was taken to the Trust's A&E department complaining of collapse and a shaking episode, abdominal pain and headache. His symptoms settled and staff discharged him with an antibiotic, Augmentin. Because of an IT issue, the transport that staff organised for Mr P took him to a previous home address without his family being told. He was then returned to the Trust, where he spent the night before he was discharged to his care home the next morning.
What we found
We partly upheld this complaint. The Trust's decision to discharge Mr P was reasonable because staff had no reason to keep him in hospital. The Trust acknowledged it had discharged Mr P to the wrong address without telling his family, which was a failing.
The way in which staff had labelled Mr P's medications meant that the instructions were not available to staff at his care home. This was a failing.
Finally, we saw no evidence that the care given caused Mr P's health condition to deteriorate.
Putting it right
We partly upheld this complaint. The Trust apologised to Ms P for the failings identified. It also shared with her its plans for preventing a recurrence of the failings around the discharge of vulnerable patients and the labelling of medication.
South London Healthcare NHS Trust
Greater London
Not applicable
Apology
Recommendation to change policy or procedure