One-line apology issued to daughter of Southwell Court care home resident after ombudsman upholds complaints
The daughter of a care home resident says she feels she was treated badly by the home during her mother’s illness and since her death there.
A one-line apology has been issued to her on the instruction of an ombudsman.
Jo Webb, of Gamston, lodged complaints with the local government and social care ombudsman after her mother died of pneumonia at Southwell Court care home on New Year’s Eve, 2018, aged 86.
Mrs Pamela Slattery moved into the private home in August 2016.
Jo Webb, a nurse, said she had been unhappy with some aspects of the care of her mother, who had dementia. Some complaints stemmed from a time when she had been unable to visit her mother after having an operation, and during another period when she had flu.
“I loved my mum dearly. I have suffered massively,” she said.
She was not happy with the home’s response to her complaints, so took them to the ombudsman.
Her complaints included that there had been a failure to seek dental treatment for her mother when she was in pain, that she had not been informed when her mother had been prescribed morphine, and been given wrong information about when it had been prescribed.
The ombudsman’s report calls Jo Webb Ms A, and her mother Mrs B.
It said: “I have upheld the complaints about failing to seek timely dental care, about providing misleading information to Ms A, and about poor communication around the morphine patch.”
The ombudsman also upheld a complaint that the home said staff contacted a GP about pain relief, but the GP surgery had no record of this.
“The failings in Mrs B’s care caused Ms A avoidable distress. To remedy the injustice, the care provider will apologise within a month of my final decision,” the report said.
The ombudsman said she did not uphold two complaints about Mrs Slattery’s food and drink intake and had not investigated two further complaints, because there had been no significant injustice.
A copy of the ombudsman’s report has been sent to the Care Quality Commisson, which rated Southwell Court as good in its latest report, published in July 2019.
Southwell Court is a care home registered for 82 people, including those with dementia. It is owned by The Bondcare Group.
Regional manager Gaby Ackermann wrote to Jo Webb, after being reminded by the ombudsman.
His letter said: “Further to the decision made by Joanne Harper, investigator, we hereby issue our apology for your experience at Southwell Court.”
Jo Webb said: “What makes me cross is how I have been treated.”
A statement to the Advertiser by the care home said: “Our residents are always our first priority and we always seek to deliver the highest quality of care to them.
“We are grateful to the ombudsman for identifying areas of improvement.
“Mrs B was very happy and had excellent care delivered to her in the 2.5 years she stayed with us until her sad passing.
“At the time a dental community nurse was not available in Southwell and thanks to this experience we joined a pilot with a view of having a local dental community nurse allocated. Upon further questions from the ombudsman one statement of one of the staff was found to be inaccurate and clarified.
“Our apology is reflective of the complaint in the scheme of the excellent care delivered to Mrs B during her stay at Southwell Court.”
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