Duty of Care

[Mimilamore]

My husband who has many medical conditions had to attend a specialist eye appointment today. As I don’t drive and he would have had drops in his eyes he went by hospital transport as advised NOT to drive.
Foul wet weather and an 8 . 30 appointment. I am his carer but seats are not available for carers.
He is collected at about 7.20. The centre is just outside a village which is near the next town to us.
Some of the roads were flooded and some were closed with diversion signs, the driver had not been to this clinic before.
The route they had to take, it was still quite dark, confused my husband.
Eventually they arrived at the small warehouse park where the clinic is situated, my husband says no sign was visible because of the poor light and driving rain. They missed the turning and ended up on the other side of the park.
My husband unwisely thought he could find the clinic from there and said he would be fine… the driver left him. Husband became confused, walked into flood water covered in leaves as he thought it was firm ground, soaked to mid calf. His energy was very low ( he has HF and AF) and felt panicky. He did however find his way to the clinic by heading for the lights and after some problems getting through the security button arrived at his appointment. Here is okay as they hung his mac up to dry but he still had wet socks and shoes and feet….
He was seen quickly and then had a 3 hour wait for return trip. I understand this… busy people but he was still soaked.
My query is, should the driver have ensured that my husband entered the correct building, he is logged as needing an arm for support.
By the time he got home he was really cold and weak. He didn’t help himself by saying drop off was fine but I would think that the driver had a duty of care to ensure my husband actually went into correct building and through security to the desk.
Would I have grounds for a complaint?
Thank you

Imagine if the hospital transport driver had told him he wasn’t allowed out of the vehicle. I mean, it’s an unfortunate situation but to try and blame it on someone else when a grown man has made a decision for himself is madness.

Apologies, I missed that. 🤐

However, if he has full mental capacity he should have insisted on being dropped at the entrance and given that physical support.

I'm concerned about the OP saying he 'got confused' which points toward lack of mental capacity.

OP, I do think you need to keep an eye on this. You have said your husband got confused and despite being unsure where to go still told the driver he was OK. These are potential indicators of mental decline. Sufferers often mask by pretending to be OK when they aren’t and having words with him will be no good if he is starting mental decline. I hope he isn’t and was just daft but please do keep an eye on it.

Thank you for constructive ideas. We had used the service before and it was fine, when you book you are vetted to see if you qualify and he does so we really weren’t taking the micky, it is appreciated. He was confused because of the early hour and the awful weather which made it hard to navigate. Yes and the posters who suggested getting a taxi, another poster is quite right, not everybody can afford one and I try to support NHS in other ways by buying books from hospital shop etc.

I agree with this. I think for the driver to insist on not allowing your husband to leave unaccompanied he would need to be assessed as not having capacity and this being noted on his support needs record.

Your husband needs to learn from this and allow himself to be taken to the door which I appreciate he may not find easy.

I think that the problem is DH saying he could find his way. The driver could not know that DH was mistaken. But it would be useful to clarify the responsibilities of the driver and the patient at these times so reporting it could be a good idea.

Yes, I am going to clarify with the company just what “ needs arm support” on arrival means….
Again I would like to repeat that this was not a volunteer driver and we could not afford a taxi there and back which would be about £50.
I do wonder if some posters read the original post properly before commenting and making assumptions
Thank you for any well wishes received, he is feeling better after a restful day.

Regardless - if an adult who is mentally competent refuses help (which he did by saying he was ok) then the driver would be in the wrong to insist he HAD to help and over rule said mentally competent adult

I think you are infantilising your husband, he’s a grown man with capacity who got lost in a car park and his trousers got wet in the rain.

If anyone is to blame it is your husband as he told the driver he was fine getting off where he did and didn’t ask for the support that he should have known he needed.

Op you’ve said in the op he’s been advised not to drive, but then in a later post that he doesn’t drive. It’s a bit confusing.

Advised not to drive after treatment not forever…

old people don't like making a fuss you've met every older person ever have you? I can assure you some definitely do 😂 some don't and some are in between. The same as all other human beings...they're individuals.

Also, there's no need to infantalise older people as some are doing here.

OP Does your husband have any diagnosis which affects his mental capacity? If so, to what level? If not and he has had sudden confusion, it's worth ruling out an infection.

Oh, another question (sorry) if he requires an "arm for support", have you looked into mobility aids such as a frame/stick etc? It really isn't advised to use someone's arm for support. Depending on where you are in the country, the NHS or charities (such as the red cross who were hugely helpful for my grandparents in providing free equipment) can support with that.

I agree with this. You cannot complain that an adult with capacity asked to be dropped off and was.

He might to need to consider whether he is still safe to drive. Does he have vision problems or get confused more often than he used to? Because that would explain why he struggled so much getting to the clinic.

I would be concerned about this too. You said the car drive in the early morning dark confused your husband. That’s concerning for a man who usually drives surely?

Does he get attendance allowance?

Yes he does get Attendance Alliwance, it gets swallowed up by the fuel bill as needs heating on almost all the time.
He was confused by the storm conditions/ route change and poor light. Does not drive at times like this himself.

I’d budget for a taxi next time in that case…

It’s pretty standard to be told not to drive on the day as in most cases they put drops in your eyes to dilate the pupils or dye so they can check the eyes
these effects of these are temporary and generally just for the day
I presume OP was referring to to this rather than a long term problem

I know that, I've had the same thing before. I was pointing out that given he struggled before the procedure (with confusion and struggling to see where he was going) that he may have issues that mean he should stop driving. If you had bothered to read my very short post properly you would see I had referenced his struggles before he got to the clinic "Because that would explain why he struggled so much getting to the clinic".