Medical Negligence

Care Home and Elderly Abuse

Once you have made a decision to move your loved one into a care home, you will want to ensure they receive a high standard of care and are looked after in the same way as if they were still at home.

In some cases, moving your loved one into care could be a last resort as you may no longer be able to look after them on your own. We recognise how distressing it is when a loved one suffers from negligent care.

Common negligence claims arising from care homes are:

• Slips, trips and falls – they may be caused by inadequate moving and handling procedures carried out by staff, unsuitable equipment being used or a lack of assistance for patients leading to them moving independently and unaided
• Pressure Sores – can arise where a patient has been left in bed for long periods of time and is not moved or repositioned regularly. Sores and Ulcers are more common in elderly and less mobile patients when their skin is not checked or cared for correctly and their personal hygiene is inadequate. Pressure sores are graded from 1-4 based upon on their severity, in some cases they can be life threatening
• Medication Errors – where medication or its dosage is incorrectly prescribed or failure to carry out correct observations following medication administration. This can lead to serious health problems for patients and in some cases can be fatal
• Dehydration and/or malnutrition – can arise from inappropriate dietary planning or failure to provide assistance with eating and drinking
• Infections – in some cases this may be due to poor hygiene control
• Injury as a result of care providers – as well as being physical, patients may also suffer from financial and emotional abuse