Mr A complained about various issues regarding the care provided to his late mother, who had suffered from Parkinson’s disease. Mr A considered that the Health Board had failed to respond, or to adequately respond, to specific concerns he had raised with it.
He was also concerned about the substance of the Health Board’s complaint response, when it had sought to address his concerns. These concerns were about who had instigated his mother having her medications liquidised in October 2024, the delayed involvement of a Parkinson’s specialist, the removal of his mother’s catheter, and the provision of incontinence slips.
The assessment found that the Health Board had failed to respond to a concern Mr A had raised regarding numerous choking episodes his late mother had suffered in 2024 and had failed to adequately respond to a concern he had raised regarding the Health Board’s communication with his late mother’s GP Practice about crushing/liquidising her medications. That amounted to maladministration which caused Mr A an injustice.
The Health Board agreed to, within 6 weeks, apologise to Mr A for failing to adequately address the concerns outlined above and to provide a further complaint response regarding these issues.
The Ombudsman did not consider that the other issues that Mr A had raised in his complaint to this office met the threshold for an Ombudsman investigation.