Tragic Death Of An Elderly Patient

A recent tragic death of an elderly patient at a care home has highlighted the need for special instructions on patient requirements not only to be clearly specified, but carried out.

In this incident, the family of an elderly woman had arranged for respite care at a residential home and left clear instructions that her food had to be cut into small pieces to avoid the risk of choking.

Unfortunately the meal of meatballs she was served was not cut up into small pieces and she choked to death.

The home has been fined £80,000 and ordered to pay costs of £19,631.

There is, however, another course of action to finding a care home for elderly relatives and that is the provision of a carer in the person’s own home

Such a carer can be full-time residential, or on a daily visit basis, the real issue is finding just the right person.

That is where we come in. At The Graham Agency we have close to 30 years experience of recruiting a  complete range of domestic, household and caring staff.

We pride ourselves on taking the utmost care to ensure that the chosen candidate not only has the necessary skills and experience, but the right personality.

However, the recent court case does raise the issue, that all such important instructions must not only be given to the carer, but that they should be in writing and, ideally, signed for.

While it is the responsibility of the carer to carry out the instructions, it is the responsibility of the relative, or other person engaging the carer, to ensure that they understand what is required.

No matter what your domestic staff requirements are, including carers, talk to us first.

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