-
Case ref:201406227
-
Date:February 2016
-
Body:Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS Board - Acute Services Division
-
Sector:Health
-
Outcome:Some upheld, recommendations
-
Subject:nurses / nursing care
Summary
Mrs C complained about the care and treatment provided to a resident (Mr A) of the care home she managed when he was admitted to Glasgow Western Infirmary to have a catheter fitted. Mr A had dementia. Medical staff had to make a number of attempts to fit the catheter, which distressed Mr A. Mrs C said that staff failed to provide adequate care when they attempted to insert a catheter and properly manage his pain. She also said that staff failed to provide Mr A with adequate sustenance and communicate with his carer as they should have done.
We took independent advice from a nursing adviser. We found that the board failed to provide Mr A with adequate sustenance or communicate with his carer as they should have done, particularly given Mr A's dementia. However, we found no evidence that the placement of a catheter was unreasonable (although we appreciated how distressing an experience this was for Mr A) or that staff had failed to manage his pain.
Recommendations
We recommended that the board:
- consider and report on steps taken to address the failings we identified;
- bring the nursing adviser's comments about communication to the attention of relevant staff; and
- apologise for the failures we identified.