A man claims he found his 83-year-old mother fully clothed in a soiled bed after carers failed to get access to her home – because they had the wrong code for the key safe.
John Wright, 61, was confronted with the distressing scene when he arrived to check on his mum at her Sale home, a report by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman says. She had been discharged from hospital following a serious fall.
Carers could not get into her home to administer medication and when John arrived to check on his mother what he found what he describes as ‘a total nightmare’. The care company concerned was Acucare Ltd, operating under the franchise Sure Care Trafford.
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A spokesperson for the company said the director at the time has left and current bosses have no knowledge of the case.
A letter to Mr Wright from Trafford council, seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service reads: “I would like to provide you with assurance that Trafford Council no longer works with Acucare Ltd (Sure Care Trafford).”
John gave up his job as an aircraft engineer four-years-ago to look after his mother, who has dementia. He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “The care system is broken.”
He says he took his mother to Wythenshawe Hospital A&E after she suffered the fall at home. “It was so bad you could see her teeth through her face,” he said.
John spoke to the LDRS after the Ombudsman found fault with Trafford council for failing to tell him about the outcome of an investigation into what happened after after his mum was discharged from hospital.
A report said that the same day his mother was discharged – with a four-times-a-day care package – John contacted the town hall to report that carers had missed her bedtime call as they could not gain access to the property.
His mother’s care notes recorded that was because the correct information had not been passed to carers about the key safe code, resulting in her missed medication, the report said.
The report added: “Although the care provider soon got the correct key code to allow them access, John contacted the council two days later to say he had visited his mother and found her fully dressed in a soiled bed with faeces on her. John asked for the current carers to be stopped immediately.”
The council contacted the care provider who reported it had attended his mother’s property at 8.50am and she was already dressed and sitting in the living room, the Ombudsman said. The care provider said it provided his mother with breakfast and made her bed.
“However, the council spoke to John about what the care provider had said and he told them he had arrived at 9.35am,” the Ombudsman added. “He said it would have been impossible for his mother to have undressed, soiled the bed and redressed in the time between the care provider leaving and him arriving.”
At the same time, John raised a complaint about the mix-up over the key code. “He also said the care provider had failed to give his mother her medication and had left her in a soiled bed,” the report added.
“John also said the care provider had given the wrong information about what had happened when it completed his mother’s morning visit.”
The council completed a safeguarding investigation in late March, but took until August to inform John after he ‘chased’ the authority, the Ombudsman said.
The watchdog said what had happened to John’s mother was a breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008, which says medicines must be supplied in sufficient quantities, managed safely and administered appropriately to make sure people are safe.
There was also a breach of the regulation which says care providers should keep an accurate and complete record of the care they give a person, the Ombudsman reported, adding: “The council’s complaints procedure says it will respond to complaints in a timely and appropriate manner. However, it did not do so here, and this is fault. The faults identified in relation to the council failing to respond to John’s complaint again would have caused him distress.”
The town hall was ordered to write to John and apologise, to pay him £250 to recognise the distress caused to him and to remind staff in writing of the importance of responding to complaints in a timely manner.
A spokesperson for Trafford council said: “We strive to provide and commission excellent care for the 4,000 adults who need our services.
“Facilitating healthy and independent lives is a key priority for us. The vast majority of care providers in Trafford are rated good or outstanding by the Care Quality Commission but, in this instance, the quality of care has not been to the standard that we would expect.
“We have apologised to John and his mother and carried out the Ombudsman’s requirements following the findings. We treat such matters very seriously and have taken steps to avoid such issues in future, as part of our commitment to continual improvement and learning.”