Mrs and Mr C complained that the Trust had not been aware of, and did not act on, Mrs C's advance directive (a document that set out her wishes about her treatment) and that communication with the family had been poor. They felt the Trust did not recognise the impact its actions had had on them, and its service improvements had not done enough to stop the mistakes happening again.
What happened
Mrs C had a history of mental illness. She had put together an advance directive for the Trust that explained what she wanted to happen when she was unwell.
The Trust did not act on Mrs C's wishes when she went into hospital because staff did not know about the advance directive. Mr and Mrs C said this delayed her getting the right treatment and distressed her family.
What we found
We partly upheld this complaint. The Trust did not know about, or act upon, the advance directive. It started appropriate treatment right away, however, so we did not find any delay in treatment that would have delayed Mrs C's recovery.
The failing led to Mr and Mrs C losing confidence in the Trust and this made them worried about what might happen in the future.
Putting it right
The Trust had already made improvements by putting all patient advance directives with the patient's records. It also gave staff additional training, used new care programme paperwork, reviewed advance directives and worked with its mental health legislation department to establish what information was needed to be added to electronic records. These improvements reassured us that the Trust had learnt from this complaint. We told Mr and Mrs C that we thought the Trust had done enough to stop these shortcomings happening again.
The Trust paid Mr and Mrs C £500 to compensate them for the distress caused and their worries about future care.
Humber NHS Foundation Trust
Hull
Did not apologise properly or do enough to put things right
Compensation for financial loss