Decision Report 201704575

Summary

Mr C complained about the care and treatment provided to his late mother (Mrs A) at Monklands Hospital. In particular, he complained that Mrs A had been inappropriately discharged. He also complained that the board's communication about Mrs A's positive Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA, a strain of antibiotic-resistant bacteria) result was unreasonable.

We took independent advice from a consultant in acute medicine and a nurse. Regarding Mrs A's discharge, we found that she had been fit for discharge and that the discharge planning for her had been reasonable. We also found that Mrs A's nutritional care had been reasonable. Therefore, we did not uphold this aspect of Mr C's complaint.

In relation to the communication about the positive MRSA result, we found that the level of communication with Mr C and his family had been unreasonable and that the board had failed to follow their policy for the control and management of patients colonised or infected with MRSA. We also noted that the board had accepted and apologised for the breakdown in communication in relation to the MRSA result. We upheld this aspect of Mr C's complaint.

Recommendations

What we said should change to put things right in future:

• The policy for the control and management of patients colonised or infected with MRSA should be adhered to. In particular, the patient/relative should be informed about a positive result, given a copy of a MRSA patient information leaflet and that this should be documented in the medical records.

We have asked the organisation to provide us with evidence that they have implemented the recommendations we have made on this case by the deadline we set.