Trust acted fairly in moving a women in her wheelchair

What happened

After spending several days in hospital the Trust said Mrs F was medically fit for discharge, but kept her in hospital as her community care package had not been finalised. One night she said she experienced flashbacks triggered by the environment on the ward, and this caused her some distress.

Mrs F moved away from the ward but nursing staff twice asked her to return and said they needed to closely monitor her. When she tried to leave the ward again, staff called security officers who, without her consent, moved Mrs F closer to the nurse's station. Mrs F tried to get out of her wheelchair while the security officers moved her but they restrained her to stop her from falling to the floor.

Mrs F discharged herself the next day because she did not feel safe in hospital.

She contacted us because she said she would like to see improvements to services in the hospital. She also wanted to visit the Trust to help reduce the terror she felt about having to go into hospital in the future.

What we found

We did not uphold this case. The nurses had good reason to ask Mrs F to remain on the ward so that they could observe her. They acted appropriately when they called security for assistance, because they had justifiable concerns about her safety.

The security officers did not act in line with Trust policy when they moved Mrs F without her consent. However, they acted appropriately in preventing Mrs F from falling from her wheelchair in case she injured herself.

While the Trust's investigation into her complaint did recognise that it had not treated Mrs F fairly as she used a wheelchair, it missed an opportunity to begin the investigation earlier. As a result it could not interview one of the nurses who no longer worked there. The Trust also suggested that Mrs F could visit the hospital to allay her fears but had later cancelled this visit. We felt that a meeting was a good way to remedy the injustice Mrs F suffered, but that the Trust acted unfairly by cancelling it.

Although we did not uphold this complaint, the Trust agreed to rearrange the visit that was cancelled, to help Mrs F allay her fears of going back to hospital for treatment. It also acknowledged its failing, and all staff now have mandatory training on equality and diversity.