Health bosses forced to apologise over patient’s early release

First week of nursing care home charges must also be paid

NHS Tayside has been forced to apologise and pay costs to a family after failing to assess a patient before she was discharged.

The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) has made several recommendations to the health board after the family of a woman, known as Mrs A, had to pay more than £20,000 in costs to place her in a nursing home.

A complaint was made by the woman’s son, Mr C, who said he had raised concerns with staff at Perth Royal Infirmary “several times” about his mother’s ability to return home.

The watchdog has now ordered NHS Tayside to reimburse the woman for the first week of her nursing home costs.

NHS Tayside says it has already apologised to the family.

The SPSO report says: “There was no evidence of a multi-disciplinary team discussion or of adequate occupational therapy input in the discharge planning process.

“In addition, we found that the physiotherapy and nursing notes indicated she should have had further assessment.

“Mr C had also raised concerns several times to different members of staff about Mrs A’s ability to return home.

“We found that Mrs A should not have been discharged on the day that she was.

“In view of this, we upheld the complaint.

“However, it was likely that she would have been reviewed again a week later and it was possible that a reasonable decision could have been made at that time that she could be discharged.”

The man also claimed NHS Tayside did not act in accordance with Scottish Government guidelines on hospital discharge.

However, the SPSO did not uphold this complaint.

The report continued: “Finally, Mr C complained to us about the board’s handling of his complaint.

“We found that the board had delayed in responding to Mr C and that the communication with him about a meeting had not been clear.

“In addition, the board’s response said that it had been reasonable to discharge Mrs A.

“In view of these failings, we upheld the complaint.”

A spokeswoman for NHS Tayside said: “We have apologised to the family and actions have been taken to address the recommendations made.”

Mr C had raised concerns several times to different members of staff about Mrs A’s ability to return home