Overview
The complainant (Mrs C) was concerned that her mother (Mrs A) received inadequate care and treatment after being admitted to Royal Victoria Hospital (the Hospital) between 17 July 2006 and 20 October 2006. She also raised concerns about the cleanliness of the Hospital.
Specific complaints and conclusions
The complaints which have been investigated are that:
- (a) Lothian NHS Board (the Board) failed to appropriately monitor and audit the cleanliness of the Hospital (partially upheld to the extent that there were failures in cleaning and monitoring);
- (b) nursing staff failed to take action when they were advised of concerns by Mrs A's family and were often unavailable, in several instances because they were at management meetings (no finding);
- (c) a nurse acted inappropriately by trying to remove Mrs A's ring without a local anaesthetic (upheld); and
- (d) as a result of the poor care Mrs A received, her health and general condition deteriorated during her stay at the Hospital (not upheld).
Redress and recommendations
The Ombudsman recommends that the Board:
- (i) bring the findings of this report to the attention of all staff involved in cleaning, supervising and monitoring cleaning, to remind them of the importance of cleaning all required areas, recording cleaning appropriately and carefully checking cleaning and monitoring documentation so that the omissions highlighted in this report are not repeated in future;
- (ii) ensure that the induction of new staff includes appropriate and adequate training on the completion of cleaning records;
- (iii) apologise to Mrs A and her family for attempting to remove her ring without local anaesthetic and for the distress this caused; and
- (iv) put measures in place to ensure that, where the condition of a finger is clearly such that removal of a ring will be painful, removal should be carried out with the use of a local anaesthetic.
The Board have accepted the Ombudsman's recommendations and will act on the accordingly.