Let Down By Nursing Home - What can I do?

87 Posts


My Father was admitted to a nursing home for palliative care, after he had been diagnosed with a brain tumour and we were told we could not have him home due to the unpredictable nature of his illness. I had been his carer throughout his illness up to this point.
Unfortunately he passed away just 15 days after being admitted. He had been in hospital for 6 weeks in total, during this time we were not allowed to visit him, either in hospital or at the nursing home due to COVID regulations.
I had been reassured by the home staff that we would be able to visit him when he was deemed to be 'end of life' and we trusted them. A few days after he arrived I was called by them and told that my Dad had been visited by a doctor as he had refused food or drink, the doctor had prescribed him anticipatory drugs, but I was reassured by staff that he didnt need them yet and told we still couldnt visit. During the 10 days leading up to his passing, I telephoned every day, numerous times to see how he was doing or to try and speak with him. I asked if we could visit and was refused, as he wasnt deemed 'end of life' yet, despite him not eating or drinking and being constantly asleep.
My Father passed away without any family with him, or without having a visit to say goodbye from anyone.
Fast forward to yesterday, I received a letter in reply to my complaint to the Nursing Home. In this letter I was told that when the GP prescribed the anticipatory drugs, I should have been told that we could visit.
This wasnt just a simple oversight by staff, it was 10 days, with me phoning 4 or 5 times a day and nobody telling me my Dad was end of life, and being refused visits by more than one member of staff.
I want to take this further but do not know where to start. I feel it needs addressing properly for my poor Dad's sake, a simple 'sorry' just doesnt cut it.
We are in Wales, can anyone help or advise?
Unfortunately he passed away just 15 days after being admitted. He had been in hospital for 6 weeks in total, during this time we were not allowed to visit him, either in hospital or at the nursing home due to COVID regulations.
I had been reassured by the home staff that we would be able to visit him when he was deemed to be 'end of life' and we trusted them. A few days after he arrived I was called by them and told that my Dad had been visited by a doctor as he had refused food or drink, the doctor had prescribed him anticipatory drugs, but I was reassured by staff that he didnt need them yet and told we still couldnt visit. During the 10 days leading up to his passing, I telephoned every day, numerous times to see how he was doing or to try and speak with him. I asked if we could visit and was refused, as he wasnt deemed 'end of life' yet, despite him not eating or drinking and being constantly asleep.
My Father passed away without any family with him, or without having a visit to say goodbye from anyone.
Fast forward to yesterday, I received a letter in reply to my complaint to the Nursing Home. In this letter I was told that when the GP prescribed the anticipatory drugs, I should have been told that we could visit.
This wasnt just a simple oversight by staff, it was 10 days, with me phoning 4 or 5 times a day and nobody telling me my Dad was end of life, and being refused visits by more than one member of staff.
I want to take this further but do not know where to start. I feel it needs addressing properly for my poor Dad's sake, a simple 'sorry' just doesnt cut it.
We are in Wales, can anyone help or advise?
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Replies
Sadly, your dad has now passed so nothing you can do can bring that time back.
So what specific outcome is it that you’re looking for? What do you want the nursing home to say or do? What actions have they said in their response that they will take in future?
If you want it on the radar of someone outside of the care home then report to CQC.
https://careinspectorate.wales/
Is the care home part of a larger organisation? If you’re not satisfied with the response you can escalate to them.
But other than apologising and ensuring it doesn’t happen again to anyone else, I’m struggling to see what else the home can offer in redress.
They may well have investigated and be holding people accountable but they can't share details of actions with specific staff (eg performance management/training disciplinary) because that would be a breach of confidentiality. What they can do is tell you in more general terms what went wrong and what steps they are putting in place. Was that not part of the original response?
Complaints procedures usually have an "if you're not satisfied with the outcome" section - what did the response say about options for taking it higher?
It does show incredibly poor practice to have been misled like that over that period of time, and you have every right to be upset. It sounds to me as if CQC would be a good starting point, flagging up that it clearly wasn't just one person making a mistake but a complete breakdown in their procedures.
Happy moneysaving all.
telling you that but have they refreshed the staff who are actually on the ground. Hope that helps sorry for your loss.