Derbyshire: Woman's family to get payout for care home failures

The woman "did not receive the service she paid for", the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman said

A Derbyshire council and an NHS trust have been told to pay compensation to a family after failing their dying mother in her final months.

A watchdog found mistakes at a care home caused "worry and avoidable distress" to her family.

The woman "did not receive the service she paid for", the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman said.

Derbyshire County Council said it was "sorry for any distress this caused to the family".

Visits limited

Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust and Derbyshire County Council were responsible for supporting the woman, referred to as Mrs C, at the time of her death.

She was admitted to an unnamed care home due to a diagnosis of dementia along with other health issues, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The watchdog's report set out how the family said Mrs C's end-of-life treatment, which included pain relief, "was not managed appropriately".

Concerns were also raised about visitation rules which limited how often they could see their mother.

The watchdog said the council accepted Mrs C's care and treatment had "fallen below the level of standard it expected as a council registered care home provider".

Investigators found the care home had insufficient night-time staff to oversee Mrs C on at least three occasions.

The care home manager had been trying to follow national Covid guidelines around visitation, which led to issues in the family gaining access for end-of-life visits, it said.

'We're sorry'

The watchdog told the county council to pay £2,350 to the woman's family in acknowledgement of care home support which "fell far below expected standards at times".

Meanwhile, the council and NHS trust have each been instructed to give the family £500 to "acknowledge the impact the faults had…at a time when their mother was at the end of her life".

A spokesperson for Derbyshire County Council said: "We aim to provide a high level of care to our residents and we accept in this case we fell below the high standards we expect of ourselves.

"We're sorry for any distress this caused to the family of Mrs C and have implemented the actions outlined in the Ombudsman's report, including apologising to her family."

A spokesperson for Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust said: "We accept all the findings, and the learning for us, in the Ombudsman's report.

"We have already acted on all the findings and recommendations and have apologised to the family for the distress caused to them."