Renfrew Care Home sent resident to hospital 'alone'

Ruth Roy’s mum suffered a fall early on the morning of Friday, July 5 at local authority-owned Renfrew Care Home where she has been a resident for about seven years.

Paramedics were called to the Cockles Loan residence and the pensioner was taken by ambulance to the Royal Alexandra Hospital to be checked out.

Langbank resident Ruth, who was on holiday in London at the time, was informed of the incident by phone but horrified to find out no staff member from the care home had gone with her mum due to “limited staffing levels," she said.

(Image: Newsquest)

The 59-year-old told the Gazette: “It was decided that because there were so many or so few staff working that my mum would go up to hospital on her own.

“My mum has dementia, has limited ability to communicate and has been deemed as not having capacity.

“She was away from her normal environment, she was scared and confused and threatening to 'go home'.

“This is totally unacceptable and negligent. My mum was basically abandoned, and Renfrew Care Home and Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership failed in their duty of care.

“I keep comparing what happened to her to how you would expect a child to be treated and any reasonable person would be horrified to hear of a young child being sent to hospital from nursery, for example, in an ambulance unaccompanied.

“It is no different with elderly care home residents, especially those lacking competence, like my mum.”

Ruth understands that the fall occurred around 5am and her mum was sent up to the hospital at about 7.30am/8am where she then faced a wait alone to be assessed.

A care home staff member was eventually dispatched to the RAH but this was not till sometime after lunch. 

After being x-rayed, Ruth’s mum was discharged without the need for treatment and later returned to the care home in the early evening. 

"Eventually the care home sent someone up in a taxi," explained Ruth.

"The carer, however, was also helping out with other care home residents who were similarly waiting for transport home because there was nobody up there with them either.

"All in all this is a terrible state of affairs."

A spokesperson from Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) said: “There has been no recent change in guidance relating to residents attending hospital.

“When this is necessary, our staff would initially try to contact a relative or representative to provide support during their visit.

“If a relative or representative is not available, where possible, a staff member will accompany the resident to provide this support.

“However, on this occasion, there were circumstances within the care home that needed full staff support.

“As soon as this changed a member of staff went to the hospital and stayed with the resident until they were discharged.”

Ruth told the Gazette that she had complained to the Care Inspectorate about the incident.

A spokesperson for the scrutiny body said: "A concern has been raised with us about this service.

"We are considering information given to us carefully.

"If we uphold a complaint we will publish the outcome on our website."