NHS ‘failings’ over dementia 
patient’s care

Steve Coupland, the son of Evelyn Coupland, known as Ann, slammed medical staff at Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Trust, which accepted the case raises “serious concerns” about its service.

Yesterday, lawyers for the family of the 77-year-old, who was a patient at the trust’s Grenoside Grange hospital, confirmed they had been instructed, but added the case was in the “very early stages”.

A Sheffield inquest heard Mrs Coupland had been admitted to the hospital, which assesses people with mental health problems, in early April, and her family soon raised concerns about her care.

They said that, in the end, they had to insist that their mother was transferred to the city’s Northern General Hospital, but by that point it was too late and their mother died on April 14, 2012.

Mr Coupland said: “It was just devastating for the family when my mother died, especially knowing that we had raised concerns about her care and that more could have been done to help her.

“Communication was poor from the staff about what they were doing to help my mother eat and drink and we had also raised concerns about bank holiday staff and how many people might be around. We had found my mother still in bed at 2.30pm in afternoon and were told by staff not to wake her as she made their job difficult.

“She was given strong sedatives but these were never really discussed with us and it just seemed like she wasn’t being given proper help to eat and drink despite being clearly unwell.

“We could see on April 14 that she was not well and needed to be in hospital and we couldn’t understand why it was only the following day that she was transferred.

“We just hope that by highlighting the poor care that my mother received, changes will be made and others will not experience the same poor levels of service.

“We would hate for other families to be in the same situation.”

A narrative verdict was recorded at the inquest, with the coroner ruling Mrs Coupland died after becoming dehydrated and contracting a urinary tract infection which led to a chest infection.

Ken Smith, a senior nurse at Sheffield Health and Social Care Foundation Trust, accepted at the hearing that there were serious concerns about the care she received.

Sarah Rowland, a medical lawyer at Sheffield-based Irwin Mitchell, representing the family, said: “This is a very sad case in which an elderly resident suffered from very poor levels of care.

“It is important now that staff training is improved and lessons are learned from this case so that other residents at Grenoside Grange and their families are not put in this terrible situation.

“Patient safety should be the number one priority of all healthcare organisations. The standard of care provided fell below the standard that should be expected and put Mrs Coupland at risk.”

A separate investigation carried out by Sheffield City Council’s Safeguarding team concluded that staff neglected Mrs Coupland’s needs.

Kevan Taylor, chief executive of the trust, said yesterday: “Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust would like to offer our condolences to the family of Evelyn Coupland.

“SHSC has conducted our own thorough internal investigation into the circumstances leading up to the incident.

“This highlighted some areas where the delivery of care could be improved and a comprehensive action plan is in place in which the recommendations have either already been addressed or are in progress.

“We are unable to comment further due to ongoing legal proceedings with the family.”