Decision report 201102383

Summary
Mr C had a number of health problems. When he fell and hurt himself in hospital, a support worker complained on his behalf that the board provided him with inadequate care. As a result of the fall, Mr C hurt his knee, and had mobility problems. Mr C had found it difficult to adopt a comfortable resting position in bed. He said he told nursing staff that he considered himself to be in danger of falling but they did not assist him and were to blame for his fall. Nursing staff said they were concerned that Mr C's position in bed was precarious, so they assisted him to a safer and more comfortable position and advised him not to try to stand up.

We did not uphold this complaint. There was no evidence to support either Mr C's account or the nursing staff's account of this, and so we could not determine exactly what was said. From looking at the records and taking advice from our nursing adviser, we found that the nursing notes did not record staff concerns about Mr C's position in bed, although the adviser noted this may not have been possible on a busy ward. The notes also did not record Mr C's apparent failure to comply with advice from nursing staff. This information was recorded in statements from nursing staff in response to Mr C's complaint. While we accepted our adviser's view about a busy ward, we drew the board's attention to our view that we would normally expect staff concerns to be noted in the records at the time. However, an appropriate risk assessment was carried out and a care plan was in place to look after Mr C, and our adviser concluded there was not enough evidence to suggest that the care provided to Mr C was inadequate.