Guildford care home: Daughter ‘made to wait as mother died alone’

An elderly woman died alone in a care home while her daughter was left waiting in a nearby room, an ombudsman says.

When the daughter went into her mother’s room at the Puttenham Hill House Care Home in Guildford, Surrey, she found she had died.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman said the care home had not protected the woman’s dignity.

Surrey County Council has apologised to the family for the distress caused.

The council had arranged and funded the woman’s care at the Bupa-run home.

A Bupa spokesman said it had apologised to the family and introduced “comprehensive measures” to prevent such a situation happening again.

The woman’s daughter had complained she had been called too late to the care home when her condition deteriorated in August 2019.

When she arrived she was left in a waiting area and not told her mother was seriously ill, the ombudsman said.

When she went into her mother’s room 15 minutes later it was apparent her mother had died, and she found dried blood on the floor and oxygen pipes in her mother’s nose.

The agency nurse looking after the woman never spoke to the daughter, the ombudsman said.

An inquest found the woman died from a brain haemorrhage, which would have been difficult to spot.

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: “The daughter was not able to be with her mother as she died and her mother should not have been alone in the final moments of her life.

“Nobody should be left to find their mother in this way when they could have been prepared for the situation.”

“In the years since, we’ve introduced comprehensive measures to prevent it from happening again. These include further staff training and a significant reduction in the use of agency staff.”

The ombudsman’s investigation found the woman’s care “fell below expected standards”, and the home “did not have enough appropriately qualified staff”.

Linda Marks, regional director for the Bupa care home, said: “This was an isolated incident and doesn’t reflect current practices at the home. We pride ourselves on high standards but fell short in this instance, and have sincerely apologised to the family.

“In the years since, we’ve introduced comprehensive measures to prevent it from happening again. These include further staff training and a significant reduction in the use of agency staff.”

A Bupa spokesman said that as the woman’s death was “unexpected” the equipment could not be removed until after the registration of her death.

A spokesman for Surrey County Council said: “We have fully accepted all the ombudsman’s findings and apologised to the family.

“We’re making sure this case informs our wider working with private and independent care providers to ensure that end-of-life care is always handled with the sensitivity and professionalism it deserves.”