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Care
Opinion reports feature first
person accounts of claimed
failures in falls care and care
for the elderly at Forth Valley
Royal Hospital
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Posted
June 25, 2022
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Care
Opinion is a website that allows
people across the UK to post
their experiences of hospitals
and other health care
settings.
Patients,
relatives and friends are free to
post. The vast majority of posts
and reports - including about
Forth Valley Royal Hospital - are
positive, thankful and
appreciative of the care people
have received and the services
provided.
Among
the reports for Forth Valley
Royal Hospital is a small number
that are highly critical of falls
prevention care and care for the
elderly.
Their
significance is that they
describe grave failures - the
kind of which just should not
take place in any hospital. If,
on regrettable occasions, such
failures do occur then health
boards should work quickly to
remedy them. Sadly, the repeated
rulings by the Scottish Public
Services Ombudsman show that
failures have occured throughout
the life of Forth Valley Royal
Hospital - despite repeated
recommendations for nurses to be
adequately trained and for NHS
Forth Valley to demonstrate that
improvements have been made
following each Ombudsman
report.
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The
reports that follow below are by
real people, albeit anonymised,
telling stories about what they
see as avoidable and unnecessary
failures of nursing care that
have put patients at risk and, in
some cases, been followed by
serious life-changing
injury.
Dates
are the dates of the submission
of the report to the Care Opinion
website.
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October
18, 2017
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This
report describes how the
author’s mother – a
previously independent elderly
woman - deteriorated after an
“entirely preventable
fall”.
The
report states:
“Earlier
this year, in the space of 24
hours in this hospital my
mother, a frail and elderly
woman with a treatable urine
infection who was still
happily living independently
in her own home, was
transformed as a result of
what we think was an entirely
preventable fall in hospital
(AAU), into a bed-ridden woman
unable to do anything for
herself.
"She
was robbed of her
independence, dignity, and any
hope of a decent end to her
life.
“My
mother was also in A&E,
Wards A21 and B21 during this
time.”
Link
to
report: https://www.careopinion.org.uk/403190
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April
9, 2018
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Under
the heading “poor care of
our mother”, her son
writes that she suffered
widespread substandard care
that he claims had devastating
consequences on her health and
left her with broken bones
after a “serious
incident”.
He
tells of “ongoing
issues”
•
He describes a
“substantial complaint to
Forth Valley”
•
He speaks of a “serious
incident” which left her
with “two bone
fractures”
Tellingly,
he says she was
“treated with no
dignity and respect; left
repeatedly in an unsafe
situation which resulted in
this unnecessary serious
injury”.
•
He claims that the woman was
left unsupervised – which
matches many other examples in
Forth Valley where injury and
death have followed failures
of falls prevention
practice
•
He claims that this happened
“repeatedly” - which
mirrors numerous examples
already in the public domain
where nurses flouted standard
protocols for falls prevention
on wards in Forth
Valley
•
He claims that serious injury
– avoidable serious
injury – was the result:
again, a repeat of many other
examples.
Link
to report:
https://www.careopinion.org.uk/510316
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July
30, 2019
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A
relative describes how a nurse
left their mother – a
vulnerable, frail patient with
mobility problems and delirium
– unattended on the
toilet. The relative says
their mother was “an
extremely high falls
risk”.
The
relative says:
•
“As there was only one
nurse present one of the
visitors assisted them into
the toilet. The nurse stepped
outside of the bathroom to
give Mum some privacy whilst
she done the toilet but
instead of waiting, she
returned to her office and
continued on with her
paperwork, this meant that one
of the visitors had to keep an
eye on Mum.
•
“When she was done, the
visitor who’d been
keeping an eye on Mum went and
got the nurse who came back
and after a few seconds said
that Mum wasn’t finished
so left again.
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“This meant that again
the visitor had to watch mum
on the toilet as she kept
trying to get up as she was
claiming she was finished, her
mobility is just too poor for
her to be left alone as she is
an extremely high fall risk.
•
“Another visitor went to
try and find the nurse who was
no longer in the office so had
to ask a student to assist.
Another 3-4 minutes passed
before two student nurses
attended to mum who at this
point was very anxious and was
trying to get up from the
toilet.”
Link
to report:
https://www.careopinion.org.uk/682252
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May
22, 2022
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Relative
of an elderly patient
highlights a number of
failures of care.
The
relative said:
•
Basic personal care not
undertaken
•
Observations not recorded
regularly enough
•
Elderly patients not
mobilised
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Medication not locked
away
Link
to report:
https://www.careopinion.org.uk/941148
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