Case Studies

Care Campaign for the Vulnerable receives correspondance from families who held Lasting Power of Attorney to loved ones in care homes and we are told after death were refused access to care records. Carol Griffiths was told by her late mother's care provider the family would have to wait ''eight years'' before they could see their late mother's care notes. Carol told CCFTV that such a delay brings deep concern the care provider is not being 'transparent' and prevents the family from getting closure.

Carol Griffiths with her sisiter Jackie with their late mum and dad

''On 6th August 2020, my beloved mother passed away in her care home. She was grieving for her husband, my father, who died of cancer in March 2020. We could not have full funeral for him as was the beginning of lockdown and she was therefore unable to attend the burial being wheelchair bound.

Since my father’s passing, my sister and I were not able to access my mother apart from the odd Skype meeting. Her care home in Dorset, was COVID-free but no staff at the time were being tested. My sister and I had full Lasting Power of Attorney ( LPOA) and asked the managers on a regular basis for updates on my mother’s health as we noticed sudden weight loss. We had to wait in excess of six weeks before any such update was shared and this was again done over a Skype meeting in mid July. We then realised that my mother was dangerously malnourished - at this point a ‘plan’ for nutritional supplements was shared with us but of course we were very concerned about her rapid deterioration.

During the last few weeks of her life we were only allowed to see her once (on a nominated day) and had the unimaginably difficult task of choosing which one day this was to be. Despite several desperate attempts to try and find a practical solution to see my mother at the end of her life, the care provider chose to ignore our suggestions (such as bring her to a room downstairs so we could see her through a window) and alienated themselves from us.

Her local GP via the district nurse suggested we could take her to her home (a nearby bungalow) so we could be with her when she died. We were planning to do this on Thursday 6th at around 3pm - at 2.00PM we got a call from the manager of the care home simply informing us that she’d passed away before we could get to her to bring her home. Again, we tried to see her but access was denied.

''Our late mother passed away with four carers around her - none of which were tested for COVID and yet were allowed to come and go and I was not allowed in even though I and my sister both tested (negative)'' Carol

In the days following our mother's death we were keen to obtain her care notes due to the very lengthly time without information on her health during lockdown. Having raised an official letter of complaint to the care provider about our general experience and the way we were treated we also formally requested her care notes, stating that my brother-in-law was the executor of her will. This has now also been refused by the care provider’s CEO who stated

The email sent to Carol Griffiths from the care provider stating the home was required to keep all care records for a period of eight years.

“We are required to keep all care records safe and secure for a period of eight years. That currently is and will remain the case with your mother’s care records.” Care Provider

This confirms to us that they have deliberately chosen to once again ignore our requests and we have no idea why they are insisting on retaining our Mother’s health records and continuing to treat our family with such distain - we’ve been through enough already this year without this additional angst. We can only assume the care provider has something to hide by not releasing my mother’s notes. The behaviour is nothing short of callous and we would like absolutely clarity as to whether this care provider should be allowed to get away with this action in this very difficult situation.''

Care Campaign for the Vulnerable is supporting this family. If you are interested in this case study please contact ccftv.cares@gmai.com