Ms C complained about the standard of care provided to her grandfather, Mr D, in relation to identifying and treating his infection. Her complaint was about District Nursing care and inpatient hospital care at Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr.
The Ombudsman found no evidence that Mr D should have been referred to hospital by District Nursing Staff; however, the District Nursing care records provided to the Ombudsman were wholly inadequate in relation to Mr D’s catheter care. The Health Board had also failed to respond to this aspect of Ms C’s complaint in its formal response to her. The complaint about District Nursing care was therefore partly upheld. The Ombudsman did not uphold the complaint about hospital care as the antibiotic choice, and the changes made to Mr D’s antibiotic treatment, were in line with clinical guidelines.
The Ombudsman recommended that the Health Board should: • Apologise to Ms C for shortcomings identified • Review its systems for recording District Nursing care to ensure that its recording systems are adequate to maintain safe and professional care, and in line with current clinical practice • Undertake an audit of the current standard of community nursing recording.