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Original poster

Can anyone advise re care home

72 replies

Goawaypeppa · 19/03/2023 18:40

My relative is in a care home.

Their care plan says they need an alarm to alert staff when they move from the bed area of their room as they are a fall risk due to dementia and mobility issues. This alarm was put in place when they moved to the home.

They fell yesterday. Injuries to one part of their body.

The alarm wasn’t there. I asked why it wasn’t there when I attended and the paramedics asked if they had any sort of alarm and I noticed that it wasn’t in place (I specifically went to check, it was gone). The care staff didn’t know why it wasn’t there.

No one can tell me why or when it had been taken away.

I had to tell them to put one back today.

I checked and it was in her care plan that she should have one in her room.

I have no idea when this alarm was moved out. Nor do they. They say it’s not been documented. she walked out into the corridor and fell. No one saw the fall. Just saw her dragging herself along the floor bleeding.

They have failed in their duty of care. I have made a verbal complaint today to the deputy manager and also put it in writing.

But surely this is negligence?

OP posts:
SafeguardingSocialWorker · 19/03/2023 18:54

Yes it is neglect and the care should report it to Adult Social Care as a safeguarding issue and complete an investigation report themselves.

If you are concerned they might not report it to Adult Social Care then you can report it yourself. There should be information on line for your local authority about how to do it.

Original poster
Goawaypeppa · 19/03/2023 18:58

Yes, I am sure they will try to cover it up as best they can.

But from my experience in woking in this area in the past, the LA are always on the side of the care homes.

Do we also have a chance of suing them? All
her life savings/money from house sale are almost gone paying to live there. And now this. I am so angry on her behalf.

OP posts:
TizerorFizz · 19/03/2023 20:16

My DM has a personal alarm. It doesn’t stop an old person falling. As a result of this, I’m not sure you would get far with a court action for negligence. It’s not great but she still might have fallen. My DM fell and was so confused she didn’t use it. That was not great as she’s not in a home and wasn’t found for hours. So think very carefully if you want this amount of turmoil.

justgettingthroughtheday · 19/03/2023 20:21

The alarm wouldn't have stopped her falling. It just alerts when she's out of bed. It's frightening how far people can move and how far they can get.
I would try and find out why the mat wasn't in place - had something happened and it been soiled or damaged earlier in the day? They are expensive bits of kit and not limitless.

I'm sorry this happened but the reality is that unless you are willing to pay for her to have 1-1 support 24hrs a day she is going to be at a significant chance of falls. Alarm or not

Original poster
Goawaypeppa · 19/03/2023 20:24

No, it wouldn’t have stopped a fall but the alarm was in the care plan. It should have been in place.

It wasn’t a mat. It’s one of the infa red beams. No one can tell me where it went or when it was moved. The one they found to put back was a totally different one (the serial numbers of the equipment are put in the care plan).

Therefore, the care plan wasn’t being adhered to. That’s taken very seriously.

OP posts:
Original poster
Goawaypeppa · 19/03/2023 20:26

TizerorFizz · 19/03/2023 20:16

My DM has a personal alarm. It doesn’t stop an old person falling. As a result of this, I’m not sure you would get far with a court action for negligence. It’s not great but she still might have fallen. My DM fell and was so confused she didn’t use it. That was not great as she’s not in a home and wasn’t found for hours. So think very carefully if you want this amount of turmoil.

It’s not a personal alarm.

It’s a beam that crossed the room. So they can be altered if she tries to go to the en-suite bathroom or leave the bedroom.

They are supposed to attend when the alarm sounds, it’s hooked up to the main call system. It’s written into the care plan.

OP posts:
Original poster
Goawaypeppa · 19/03/2023 20:35

In fact, the alarm should have stopped a fall
as staff were supposed to respond when she crossed the beam and the alarm sounded.

OP posts:
GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 19/03/2023 20:45

Is it at all possible that your relative could have moved it herself? Or is it fixed in place somehow?

I ask because DGM has dementia and I've lost count of the weird places she's put things. Things you'd never think she would (or sometimes could!) move in a million years end up at the back of a drawer or under the bed. Or chucked in the bin.

However, even if it wasn't the staff, I'd expect them to be checking it was working at regular intervals - daily/ weekly/whatever - and so to have spotted it was missing quickly.

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 19/03/2023 20:49

Although, if she'd moved it that would have set it off, presumably, and someone should have come running. Is it battery or mains? Does it alert if it loses power?

Soontobe60 · 19/03/2023 20:49

An alarm of any kind will not stop a fall - it will notify staff of one, but that’s all. Presumably this alarm isn’t fixed in place, and so it’s not unusual for it to go missing. Either your relative or another resident could have easily moved it. My stepfather has an alarm mat - it goes off all the time as he’s constantly trying to stand up, forgetting that he can’t actually do so anymore.

Original poster
Goawaypeppa · 19/03/2023 20:54

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 19/03/2023 20:45

Is it at all possible that your relative could have moved it herself? Or is it fixed in place somehow?

I ask because DGM has dementia and I've lost count of the weird places she's put things. Things you'd never think she would (or sometimes could!) move in a million years end up at the back of a drawer or under the bed. Or chucked in the bin.

However, even if it wasn't the staff, I'd expect them to be checking it was working at regular intervals - daily/ weekly/whatever - and so to have spotted it was missing quickly.

No, they didn’t move it.

It would be impossible for them to reach the plug.

Yes, you would expect that they would check. I was just met with a blank state today and an “I don’t know” when I asked the duty manager that question today.

OP posts:
MissLucyEyelesbarrow · 19/03/2023 20:57

To have a case for negligence, the omission (losing the alarm) would have to have led to the injury. So, if your relative had developed - say - hypothermia as a result of lying on the floor because the alarm was missing, you might have a case. However, if the injuries were caused by the actual fall, then there is no causal link between the omission and the injury, and therefore (in the legal sense) no negligence.

Original poster
Goawaypeppa · 19/03/2023 20:58

Soontobe60 · 19/03/2023 20:49

An alarm of any kind will not stop a fall - it will notify staff of one, but that’s all. Presumably this alarm isn’t fixed in place, and so it’s not unusual for it to go missing. Either your relative or another resident could have easily moved it. My stepfather has an alarm mat - it goes off all the time as he’s constantly trying to stand up, forgetting that he can’t actually do so anymore.

She’s on a floor with residents with severe dementia.

Many can’t move. I doubt any one of them would have been agile enough to reach down under a bed plinth to unplug and move it. And then to unplug it from the call bell and walk off with it with long wires trailing while using a walking frame as the few who are still mobile do.

It has to have been moved by staff.

The fact is, it’s written into her care plan that it should be in place. And it wasn’t.

It was also placed in a way that she couldn’t move it herself.

OP posts:
Original poster
Goawaypeppa · 19/03/2023 21:00

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 19/03/2023 20:49

Although, if she'd moved it that would have set it off, presumably, and someone should have come running. Is it battery or mains? Does it alert if it loses power?

Mains. And then plugged directly into the call
system too.

And it was placed in such a way that she couldn’t move it herself.

OP posts:
Tiani4 · 19/03/2023 21:01

It IS a safeguarding enquiry

Look up your local authority (where care home resides) safeguarding report line and report it
I'd expect the care home to report this too and that they'd be open and transparent

Whilst even any alarm system doesn't mean staff will get there in time to respond quickly when someone at risk of falls - even with best efforts, - since you describe and believe alarm was been moved/ turned off despite being in her care plan as falls risk management plan, that's enough to investigate allegation

The rest of her being self funding her placement or whether she is LA funded, is irrelevant to safeguarding investigation but will be noted but not key indicator.

It's an alleged neglect s42 statutory safeguarding enquiry

Original poster
Goawaypeppa · 19/03/2023 21:02

MissLucyEyelesbarrow · 19/03/2023 20:57

To have a case for negligence, the omission (losing the alarm) would have to have led to the injury. So, if your relative had developed - say - hypothermia as a result of lying on the floor because the alarm was missing, you might have a case. However, if the injuries were caused by the actual fall, then there is no causal link between the omission and the injury, and therefore (in the legal sense) no negligence.

Okay.

But isn’t the fact that they have failed to adhere to the care plan serious too?

They should have been alerted to them moving around.

And the fact that no one has documented taking it away, and obviously, no one had checked it was there, or looked at the care plan to see that there should be one there.

OP posts:
Tiani4 · 19/03/2023 21:03

You can Google her local authority by address of the card home (since she's self funding) and look up safeguarding report line

SophiaSW1 · 19/03/2023 21:04

If it is normally there and it was suddenly gone how will you prove negligence? I don't mean this in an argumentative way but in a factual one. They could say perhaps she moved it herself. I'd certainly want to know when it was last there though.

Original poster
Goawaypeppa · 19/03/2023 21:06

Tiani4 · 19/03/2023 21:01

It IS a safeguarding enquiry

Look up your local authority (where care home resides) safeguarding report line and report it
I'd expect the care home to report this too and that they'd be open and transparent

Whilst even any alarm system doesn't mean staff will get there in time to respond quickly when someone at risk of falls - even with best efforts, - since you describe and believe alarm was been moved/ turned off despite being in her care plan as falls risk management plan, that's enough to investigate allegation

The rest of her being self funding her placement or whether she is LA funded, is irrelevant to safeguarding investigation but will be noted but not key indicator.

It's an alleged neglect s42 statutory safeguarding enquiry

Oh I know it’s a huge safeguarding issue.

Even if another resident had moved it (very unlikely given the condition of the other residents on the floor and the placements of the plugs and the unit), then why wasn’t it noticed by staff?

The care plan has been ignored which is a serious issue.

This was one of the falls prevention procedures put in place for them and it’s failed to have been adhered to.

OP posts:
Tiani4 · 19/03/2023 21:07

Just to say PP's saying she might have moved it herself, that's irrelevant at initial stage,
A safeguarding enquiry will look at all of that and it won't be prejudged

SafeguardingSocialWorker · 19/03/2023 21:08

SophiaSW1 · 19/03/2023 21:04

If it is normally there and it was suddenly gone how will you prove negligence? I don't mean this in an argumentative way but in a factual one. They could say perhaps she moved it herself. I'd certainly want to know when it was last there though.

This is what a s.42 safeguarding enquiry would try and establish.

we aren't talking about criminal/legal negligence here we are talking about what is considered neglect under the Care Act 2014.

not following the care plan, potentially resulting in harm being caused is considered abuse/neglect under s.42 of The Care Act.

The point of a section 42 safeguarding enquiry is to establish what went wrong and try and prevent it from happening again.

Original poster
Goawaypeppa · 19/03/2023 21:08

SophiaSW1 · 19/03/2023 21:04

If it is normally there and it was suddenly gone how will you prove negligence? I don't mean this in an argumentative way but in a factual one. They could say perhaps she moved it herself. I'd certainly want to know when it was last there though.

It’s quite clear from her condition that she couldn’t have moved it herself. No one who knows her would argue that she could.

I don’t know how long it’s been missing for. It’s not my job to police these things - I put my trust in the care home. I expect care plans to be followed. It’s pretty basic.

And to be honest, when we visit she likes to go out. So we’ve not spent heaps of time in the room.

OP posts:
Tiani4 · 19/03/2023 21:10

@Goawaypeppa
I know it's a Safeguarding concern (SHC) that'd trigger a statutory s42 (Care Act) enquiry

You just need to report it snd let the social work team do their enquiries

Baking safeguarding personal will require either mum says her wishes/ outcomes from the SGC or you as her informal advocate / family do...

Tiani4 · 19/03/2023 21:11

Sorry SGC not SHC!

Tiani4 · 19/03/2023 21:11

Oh dear sorry about typos