PALS Complaint - anyone put in a hospital complaint?

[SortCode]

Completing a report to PALs about a family member who is in hospital and received serious injuries as a result of lack of care.

Not something we as a family want to do but it is serious enough that we have no choice. Time line of events has been document, but just wondering if anyone has any advice on what we should definitely be included

Yes you can put in a complaint , what sort of harm did they come to, can it proven to be lack of care. Do you know if risk assessments were carried out to reduce the risk of harm and were any injuries reported by the staff. Have you had any explanation from the nurses or doctors about what happened and had any meetings with the staff. Does your family member agree to you making a complaint if they have capacity to make that choice, PALS can investigate by reading theough the notes and soeaking to staff but what outcome are you looking for. You may find its a long process but keep going if this was poor care and negligence. How is the family person now. Have the injuries impacted on their physical and mental health.

Thanks @KittenCatcher - just answering your questions below..

Yes you can put in a complaint , what sort of harm did they come to, can it proven to be lack of care. Do you know if risk assessments were carried out to reduce the risk of harm and were any injuries reported by the staff. SEE BELOW

*Family member has fallen 3 times in less than a week, the 3rd fall was reported to us and told an xray was being done, the following day when checking in for an update (hosp has stopped visitors), was told no xray had been done as Dr decided didnt need to. 5 days later we receive a call to say ahhh just to let you know family member has broken hip due to last fall. So family member has not only been left for 5 days but this will seriously now impact on the original illness and rehabilitation.(brain injury).

When questioning the falls....
Doesnt appear to have been a proper handover (moved from 1 ward to another at 10pm) was told by ward nurse that they only do verbal handovers now and it appears areas were not reported to them eg. they didnt know family member wasnt mobile, had had a capther in for 10 days prior which was only removed 1 hour prior to her being moved. Eating wasnt established and needed help with. I cant see that a risk assessment had been done because family member was put in a side room - have now been told this option of a side room would never of happened if they knew the 3 areas above.

Also we were told that the ward is seriously understaffed and even this week they have tried to transfer two nurses from this ward to help out on another ward which the Head ward nurse put her foot down to. We were literally begged to put in a complaint as they are desperate due to the latter - so sad.

Have you had any explanation from the nurses or doctors about what happened and had any meetings with the staff. *Explanation was family member tried to get up to get to the toilet and fell. If they had known that she wasnt mobile and needed help she would not have been put in a side room. No meetings at all not even an update on plan in place now - we have asked for a face to face meeting with consultant and now orthopedics plus want a clear plan on plan going forward. Consultant called 2 days ago and apologises for what has happened and to say they would call tomorrow to arrange a meeting - never called.

Outcome we want from this is - we dont want any other people to go through this...

Proper hand over

Sufficient staff for the ward

In lockdown last year this ward was allowed visitors due to the nature of the ward/patients to aid recover/rehabilitation. No visitors allowed this time even though we are not in lockdown or restrictions - want this looking into

We've just put in a very similar complaint - loved one very agitated and put in a side room. Staff repeatedly told of risk, we even offered to stay with him (end of life) but they refused to let us. He tried to get out of bed and injured.

We expect the complaint response to be deflection and denial.

We've also submitted our experience to CQC. They cannot investigate individual complaints, but will inspect wards where concerns are raised.

I'm a nurse and I once put in a complaint about a doctor that treated me. It was taken seriously and felt with. I didn't tell them I worked there!
Keep it factual, with no waffle or lots of emotion.

Does your relative's ward not have a cohort bay? They are for patients at high risk of falls, and (in theory) supervised constantly.

Staff member literally begged us to put in a complaint - they are not being listened to, the ward is seriously understaffed and they dont have the capacity to look after the patients - they are being put under so much more pressure. Very sad

Family member was not supervised at all the room was not in sight or near nurses station.

I did, some years ago. I emailed PALS and then they rang me almost immediately, within about 30 minutes, totally shocked and appalled at what we had experienced. They were incredibly helpful and raised a serious investigation review which was carried out by the CQC as our experience was described as being a "near miss". This took several weeks and came back with multiple areas they had let our child down, they came within hours of death as a direct result of failures.
This has led to further training being done in specific areas relating to our child and their case is used as a teaching example now. The clinicians involved were dealt with (I'm not sure how).
For us, it was totally necessary and we were glad that we did it, as hopefully it will save a life (sepsis related but the cause was very rare).
Our child made a full recovery but it took months and months. The events of that time still absolutely haunt me!!

Good luck - it sounds like PALS would be interested to hear what you have to say about the experience of your relative

PALS are very good in my experience.

I'm really sorry to hear this, and I'd definitely complain. The hospital should be learning lessons from this so other patients aren't treated the same way.

I put in a complaint in July while my dad was in hospital.
The first thing PALS did was ask my dad (who was in there having had a stroke, with a lack of comprehension) what complaints he had. Because his answer was "my dinner wasn't very hot" they said they couldn't progress my complaint.

Once he was home I sent an 8 page complaint to the hospital CEO which has since been "investigated"; although PP's comment about defend and deflect is very accurate.

In your circumstances I don't know why you wouldn't. Definitely do it.

I put in a PALS complaint about a locum hospital doctor once. He was very rude and dismissive, and didn't even bother examining me (I've got a lifelong chronic condition, I've had a LOT of hospital appointments, I know how it should be done). Turns out I was the last of several to complain about him, and his contract was terminated.

A junior Dr rang and said about the hip break and said that's why family member had been immobilised all weekend - she hadnt at all this wasnt true

Keep it short and to the point. A single page if possible, definitely no more than two.

Be clear what you hope to achieve, staffing issues will be impossible to address at present, your relatives supervision is someone else’s lack of it at the moment.

Pals are usually very good at listening and going through things.

Oh dear poor thing. How is she now. Will she need an operation. Do you know why she was placed in a side room and not in the bay. PALS will probably ask that. I would be asking about the falls, what risk assessments and.action was taken after each fall. And the catheter, would she know to call for help and not try to get out of bed. You'd like to think they were recorded and her careplan reflected this..was she transferred from another ward or A&E.. I am not sure the staffing or visiting will be addressed, maybe the bed manager was involved in the decisions about which patients are transferred. The handover sounds poor though and I would expect there to be a checklist for patient transfers. Verbal handovers were common where I worked.