3. Mr O complains about the care his mother, Mrs R, received from Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust) in September 2022.
4. Mr O says the Trust discharged Mrs R inappropriately when she was struggling with her mobility and gastroenteritis.
5. As a result, Mrs R had to move into a care home which incurred costs. Mr O feels this all contributed to her deterioration.
6. Mr O is seeking over £3700 to cover the outstanding care home fees.
7. On 27 September 2022, Mrs R was discharged from the Trust and Mr O made the decision to move her into a private care home, for her safety. Mrs R was taken back to hospital in December and sadly died on 30 December.
10. Our Service Model Guidance (SMG) 3.10 says there will be occasions when we decide that there are other reasons why we should not investigate a complaint made to us. This includes: • if the outcome sought is not achievable • that an investigation would not be practical, would not reach a satisfactory conclusion and there would be no value in providing that response through an investigation.
11. Mr O told us that days before Mrs R was discharged from the Trust, she attended A&E and was diagnosed with gastroenteritis before going back to the rehabilitation centre for three more days.
12. Prior to Mrs R’s discharge, she did not complete a stairs assessment. As Mrs R lived in a two storey house, adaptations needed to be made to ensure her safety once she was home.
13. The Trust’s response states Mr O had agreed to put a stair gate in place so that his mother could not access them. There were also arrangements made for Mrs R to live downstairs to ensure she did not use the stairs before the assessment could be completed.
14. Mr O collected Mrs R from the hospital on 27 September 2022 and when they arrived home, it was apparent to Mr O how unwell she was and that she was not able to manage her own needs safely at home.
15. Mr O told us that a physiotherapist (PT) and occupational therapist (OT), had attended Mrs R’s home on this day, to complete the stair assessment, but this did not take place.
16. Mr O rang a crisis team for help, who advised him to call 111. He did not get a call back from 111 so Mr O felt his only option was to arrange for Mrs R to go into a care home. Mrs R remained in the care home for several weeks until she went back to hospital.
17. Mr O believes that Mrs R would not have had to go into the care home, if the Trust did not inappropriately discharge her. He believes that the Trust should be responsible for paying the outstanding care home fees of over £3700.
18. During a telephone call on 30 April 2024, we asked Mr O why he had not taken Mrs R back to the hospital. Mr O explained that he now wishes he had, but at that time he had trusted that doctors had made the right decision in discharging her and he wanted to follow the correct processes.
19. He told us that someone from the crisis team had helped to arrange the emergency admission into the care home and he felt that this was his only option. In hindsight he wishes he had called an ambulance.
20. Mrs R remained at the care home for several weeks before needing to go into hospital again. Clinically she was well enough to not be in the hospital. Mr O made the decision to admit Mrs R into the care home, this was not done on advice from the Trust.
21. In a subsequent call with Mr O on 10 May, we explained we would unlikely see a link between Mrs R’s discharge and the need to go into the care home. We also explained that if we were to investigate and find that the discharge was unsafe, we would not recommend a financial remedy to cover the care home costs.
22. Mr O questioned why we would not come to this conclusion, we explained that it was not the Trust’s responsibility to cover the care home fees, as it had not made those arrangements. Mr O was able to take her back to hospital that day if he felt she was too unwell to remain at home.
23. We explained to Mr O that we could consider achieving alternative outcomes. Mr O told us that his ideal outcomes is for the Trust to cover the outstanding feed and he is not seeking anything else.
24. We understand that this situation has been very difficult for Mr O and the time he has put in to resolving these issues. It is clear he wanted to make the best decision for his mother at that time. It is unlikely we would find the Trust’s actions led to Mrs R incurring fees of over £3700 for a private care home.
25. We thank Mr O for bringing his complaint to us and we are sorry that we can not look into this further. We hope that this decision brings some closure to Mr O, and he can finally resolve these issues.
1. We have carefully considered Mr O’s complaint about Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. We were sorry to hear of Mr O’s experience and recognise the impact this had on him and his mother, Mrs R.
2. We have considered the information provided to us by Mr O and have decided we cannot link the events complained about to the outstanding private care home fees. We are sorry for any further distress this decision may cause.