Council 'failed' in care of alcoholic man

A council showed "significant failings" in the care of a man who died after refusing medical treatment.

A Safeguarding Adults Review was published, which makes recommendations on how to better understand when adults refuse medical treatment.

It comes after a Somerset man referred to as Peter died in January 2022 at Musgrove Park Hospital, following a long history of self-neglect.

Michael Preston-Shoot, chair of the Somerset Safeguarding Adults Board (SSAB), said they will take learnings from the case "on board".

Peter had been taken into a care home after life-long issues with alcohol.

His own home had become "uninhabitable", with no heating or hot water, a rat infestation, piles of rubbish and rotting food.

Some of these issues continued when he was living in the care home and he also began to suffer from peripheral vascular disease in his feet.

The report said that whilst he would initially agree to interventions such as "wound care, hospital admissions, and amputation", he would often go back on that agreement.

Peter was considered to lack mental capacity around his finances and care arrangements.

'Significant failing'

However, assessments of his capacity for making decisions around his healthcare and medical treatment were not carried out, with professionals assuming he was capable of providing or withholding consent for treatment.

The report states: "The fact that capacity was not formally assessed by health professionals in all but one occasion is a significant failing in this case."

The clinical lead at Peter’s GP practice who regularly visited Peter at his care home said: “On a good day Peter was excellent company, he was well-read and informed as to what was going on with world events.”

The report made a range of recommendations for health and care professionals including assessments of capacity, better sharing of information between hospitals and care homes, and for Somerset Council to have a review of its self-neglect cases where mental capacity issues are a factor.