Reading care failures led to woman's sepsis death, report finds

Reading Borough Council said it had addressed issues raised over the woman's care

A 63-year-old woman died from pressure sores after carers failed to use special equipment which had been allocated to her, a report found.

The Reading woman suffered a "hellishly painful end", her family told West of Berkshire Safeguarding Adults Board.

The equipment was often left turned off at her flat and was not moved with her to a care home, the board's investigator concluded.

The family said a coroner should examine the many unanswered questions.

The woman, who had multiple sclerosis and mobility issues, died in hospital in April 2019 from sepsis resulting from pressure sores, the report said.

Previously, equipment was provided to relieve pressure on her body while she was living at a sheltered flat, author Claire Crawley found.

However agency carers did not use allocated gel pads and often left a motorised turning bed switched off, she concluded.

'No communication'

When the woman, referred to in the report as P, moved to a care home in June 2018, most of her equipment was left behind, Ms Crawley added.

She said: "The social worker, care home and district nurse all shared a duty of care to ensure that P took the equipment.

"There seems to have been no communication between them on this subject."

A social worker was dismissed and care agency staff were suspended in relation to P's care, the report added.

The woman told a health worker she was in so much pain that she just wanted "my legs cut off", Ms Crawley reported.

In a statement, the woman's family said: "P was angry at with the cards that life had dealt her and was unable to argue her just cause.

"Her family tried hard to get her voice heard. It seems clear from the report that no-one was listening.

"If they were, they took no action, action which could have mitigated the damage... which led to the hellishly painful end of her life and untimely death."

Care organisers Berkshire West Clinical Commissioning Group and Reading Borough Council said they had addressed issues raised in the report, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.