Decision report 201101188

Summary
Mrs C made a number of complaints about the care and treatment provided to her mother (Mrs A) when she was admitted to the Western Isles Hospital for two days. We found that although staff had recorded that Mrs A was allergic to plasters, they continued to apply them to her. We were satisfied with the action taken by the board in response to Mrs C's complaint about this. However, we found that the record-keeping in relation to the assessment of Mrs A was not satisfactory and that there was no evidence of a risk assessment.

We did not uphold a number of Mrs C's complaints. There was no evidence that staff had failed to use a hoist when lifting Mrs A. We also considered that it was reasonable for staff to decide to keep her in bed rather than hoisting her onto a chair, as she was due to be seen by a doctor. We found that after the initial assessment, there was evidence that the board had listened to the family's views in relation to their mother's care needs. There was no evidence that staff had failed to ensure that Mrs A had a means of summoning help.

Mrs C also complained about the board's handling of her complaint. However, we found that it was reasonable to interview her brother about an allegation that a member of staff had been rude to him. There was no evidence that the board had breached confidentiality when they spoke to him. We also found that the board had not blamed the family for the problems that had occurred, but had tried to provide an explanation about how they had arisen.

Recommendation
We recommended that the board:
• remind nursing staff in the hospital of the importance of good record-keeping in relation to the assessment of patients on admission. This should include risk assessment and should involve obtaining information from relatives and/or carers.