A care provider and GP surgery have agreed to apologise to a former care home resident’s daughter after failing to acknowledge her status as power of attorney.

Oaktree Nursing Home run by Healthcare Homes and Kennedy Way surgery agreed to provide a written apology to the complainant, referred to as Mrs C, following an investigation by the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman.

The Ombudsman said Mrs C had been caused injustice by failure to acknowledge her status as her late mother’s attorney for health and personal welfare.

Both parties agreed to pay Mrs C £250 to acknowledge the distress, uncertainty and enduring sense of doubt caused by the faults.

Mrs C complained she lost the opportunity to be involved in important decisions about her mother’s care and support arrangements, including medication and personal care financial matters after she died at the nursing home on 19 November 2020.

Her mother, referred to Mrs F, had signed lasting power of attorney (LPA) documentation in 2018 which named Mrs C as her LPA for health and personal welfare, however, the GP summary failed to pass on this information to the care home.

Mrs F later then named a different family member as her next of kin and point of contact when she entered the nursing home and stated she did not want Mrs C involved in her care.