Council told to apologise over woman's care

The woman was a resident at Valley Wood Care Home in Heeley

Sheffield City Council should apologise to the daughter of a dementia patient over failings in her care, an ombudsman has said.

The woman, named as Mrs Y, was a resident at Valley Wood Care Home in Heeley, and died after a fall.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman examined her case at the request of her daughter, and identified failings including that Mrs Y was not assessed as being at risk of falls.

The council offered its "sincere apologies" to the family, adding: "The learning from this incident has been taken forward to improve the quality of our services."

A report to the ombudsman said Mrs Y had gone to stay at Valley Wood on 21 March 2023.

Her care plan included that she was not at risk of falls, although she would wander around the unit at night and needed hourly checking.

The report said on 26 March she had an “unwitnessed fall” at 06:45 GMT where she cut her head and broke her collarbone.

The staff, who called for an ambulance after 07:00, said they had been helping another patient when they had heard a bang.

Following an investigation by the company that runs the care home, a staff member was suspended.

The provider admitted that “it had been distressing for Mrs Y to be on the floor for an hour after her fall”, although this was put down to the time taken for the ambulance to arrive and following advice not to move her until it arrived.

Mrs Y left hospital on 28 April and was moved to another care home where she died on 7 May.

'Lack of care'

The care provider had accepted that “a lack of care and compassion had been shown to Mrs Y and her family, and apologised”, the ombudsman said.

The ombudsman found a number of faults had been made, including that neither the council nor the care home had assessed Mrs Y as being at risk of falls, and that hourly checks were not made.

It said: "It is no longer possible to remedy the injustice to Mrs Y as she has died.

“However, the council should apologise to (her daughter) Mrs X, make a symbolic payment (£250) to her for the distress she has been caused and work with the care home to improve its practices.

“The faults identified raise the possibility that there have been breaches of the fundamental standards.”

Valley Wood said: "We acknowledge the findings of the ombudsman and, as the report states, have already accepted that a lack of care and compassion was shown to Mrs Y and her family and we have sincerely apologised.

"We always work hard to maintain the highest standards of care for all our residents and we’re always open and transparent if anything doesn’t meet those standards.

"We welcome and encourage feedback from all residents and their families and always appreciate it when we are told we have done something wrong as this gives us the chance to improve and strengthen our services."

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