Decision Report 201601222

Summary

Mrs C's mother (Mrs A) was admitted to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. Mrs A had a number of health conditions and had recently been treated with antibiotics for infected leg ulcers and had chronic leg swelling.

Mrs A spent two months in the hospital and was discharged after clinical staff considered that she was medically stable. Shortly after discharge, Mrs A had a fall at home and was re-admitted to hospital.

Mrs C complained that the board did not provide appropriate pressure ulcer care for Mrs A. In particular, Mrs C said that staff left wounds on Mrs A's legs undressed for a number of hours and failed to appropriately elevate Mrs A's legs to promote healing.

We took independent nursing advice. We found no evidence in the records that failings in care had occurred. For this reason, we did not uphold this aspect of Mrs C's complaint.

Mrs C also complained that staff inappropriately discharged Mrs A from hospital. Mrs C specifically raised concerns about the level of physiotherapy input, Mrs A's nutritional status, that a home visit was not carried out prior to discharge and the medication with which Mrs A was prescribed on her discharge.

We took independent advice from an specialist in geriatric medicine. The adviser considered that Mrs A had received an appropriate level of therapy from a range of specialties before discharge and considered that the decision to discharge was reasonable. The adviser had no concern about the medication prescribed at discharge and was satisfied that the board's considerations in relation to a home visit were reasonable.

In relation to nutrition, the adviser considered that Mrs A had received appropriate care from dieticians, but noted that the board had mischaracterised Mrs A's nutritional status in their complaint response. We did not uphold this aspect of Mrs C's complaint, but we made a recommendation in respect of their complaints handling.

Recommendations

We recommended that the board:

• apologise to Mrs A's family for the inaccuracy in the board's complaint response letter.