Decision Report 201810161

Summary

C complained about the care and treatment their parent (A) received at St John's Hospital. C considered that A did not receive reasonable medical or nursing care and treatment; in particular, that their ward placement on a ward which was only used during the winter period to provide additional medical capacity was inappropriate and resulted in A not receiving continuity of care. C raised concerns about A’s weight management and the board’s response to A’s concerns about their vision.

The board indicated that they considered that A was appropriately placed and received the same standard of care they would have on any other ward. The board acknowledged that one weekly weigh-in had been missed for A but indicated that improvements had been made in the form of more robust processes in this area of patient care.

We took independent advice from a geriatric (medicine of the elderly) and general medical adviser and a nursing adviser.

We noted that the board had missed one weekly weigh-in for A and that there had been a delay in ophthalmologist (a specialist in the branch of medicine concerned with the study and treatment of disorders and diseases of the eye) input. However, we concluded that overall A received reasonable care and treatment. Whilst some shortcomings were identified, A was placed in an appropriate ward that, on the whole, appropriately met their needs and they received the same care and treatment that they would have had they been on a general medical ward. Therefore, we did not uphold C’s complaints.