Durham County Council (20 002 566)

Category: Adult care services Date: 12-Jul-2021

Summary

Mrs X complained about the care commissioned by the Council when her late father, Mr Y had a respite stay at Cedar Court. She said the Care Provider did not prevent Mr Y from having several falls and did not take medical advice when he had chest pains. She also said it did not tell Mrs Y about the falls or chest pain and took too long responding to her complaint. She says this caused them significant distress. We found the Care Provider failed to keep Mrs Y informed about the falls, chest pain and progress with her complaint. This put Mr Y at a significantly increased risk of harm. I do not find fault by the Care Provider in the action it took to prevent falls or the way it dealt with the chest pain. The Council has agreed to apologise and arrange to reimburse Mr Y’s estate with 50% of his fees. It has also agreed to take action to ensure the Care Provider’s practice, and its own, avoids similar failings in future.

Service improvements