A nursing home in the Lincolnshire area

3. Mrs U complains about the care and treatment her stepfather, Mr T, received at the nursing home between February and May 2020.

Specifically, she complains the nursing home: • Insufficiently safeguarded Mr T and so he left the nursing home unattended without staff being aware, once on 22 February, and again on 26 February. She says the second time he left unattended Mr T returned with a cut on his palm.

• Inappropriately safeguarded him and so he suffered two unwitnessed falls on 3 and 7 April. She says that after his second fall, he fractured his hip and was left in pain all night. He was taken to the hospital around 2pm the next day (8 April 2020) where he was diagnosed with a fractured neck of femur and had to undergo surgery.

• Shaved his hair without reason in April.

4. Mrs U says that these events happened over a short period of time and both her and her mother are very upset by what happened.

5. Mrs U says that she wants an apology, service improvements, and financial compensation.

6. Mr T was over 70 years old and was suffering from dementia. On 20 February 2020, he was admitted to the nursing home. On 22 February, he left the nursing home unattended for the first time. Nursing home staff found him and took him back. On 26 February, Mr T left unattended again, this time via a window. Nursing home staff found him about 15 minutes later and took him back. On examination, he suffered a cut on his right palm.

7. On 4 April, nursing staff found Mr T on the floor. This was an unwitnessed fall. He suffered an abrasion on the back of his head on the right side. On 7 April, he suffered a second unwitnessed fall at around 11pm. A GP was called the next day, and after a call to 999, Mr T was taken to the hospital around 2pm, where he was diagnosed with a fractured neck of femur and had to undergo surgery. He was taken back to the nursing home where he sadly passed away on 4 May. The nursing home closed around September 2021.

9. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has (or had) the option to take legal action, unless we consider this is (or was) unreasonable in the circumstances. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed or not but whether it would be a reasonable option to look in to. We have discussed this with Mrs U to understand her circumstances and the outcomes she wants.

10. Mrs U says that the nursing home was engaged to provide care and support to her father, and they failed to do this, which led to physical injury and distress. She is looking for financial remedy as part of putting this right. As such, there may be legal action open to the family.

11. We are guided by what people are looking to achieve through bringing their complaint to us. When we discussed this with Mrs U, she expressed that the financial remedy was significantly more than what we could potentially achieve for her.

12. During our communication, Mrs U has not raised any possible barriers to her seeking legal action. As such, it is therefore reasonable for her pursue this possibility.

13. Additionally, we note that the events happened between February and April 2020. Given the usual time limits for legal action, which can be quite strict, it is important she looks into this option now if this may be a possibility. Therefore, Mrs U should pursue legal action and return to us if this is not a viable avenue for her.

1. We have carefully considered Mrs U’s complaint about a nursing home in the Lincolnshire area (the nursing home). We were sorry to hear about her concerns.

2. We have decided not to take any further action on this complaint. This is because, based on the outcomes she is hoping to achieve, we have considered that there is a legal avenue available to her and it is reasonable for her to pursue this.