HC-One has apologised for uncertainty caused by a lack of accurate and complete records after a resident’s family complained to the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman.

The care home operator agreed to pay £250 to the family of a resident, referred to as Mr Y, who was living with Alzheimer’s, and reduced outstanding fees by £2,900 due to lost belongings and medication and care issues.

Mr Y was a resident at Broadoak Manor Nursing Home in Merseyside between July 2021 and April 2022.

His family complained HC-One delayed sending required information about his fees and failed to keep accurate and complete records about his care which contributed to a delay in his moving home.

In its response to the complainant in March 2023, HC-One admitted it had failed to properly complete post-fall checks, and had sometimes failed to record when staff helped Mr Y change position.

The care home also admitted to having lost some of Mr Y’s personal belongings and delayed increasing his medication.

The Ombudsman found no evidence that the care received by Mr Y caused any harm, risk of harm or a deterioration in his health or wellbeing, however, and found no evidence that Mr Y’s health was affected by a failure to keep accurate and complete records.

A spokesperson for Broadoak Manor said: “We hold ourselves to extremely high standards of stringent record keeping and clear communication. We accept that on this occasion we fell short of those high standards, and reiterate our apology to our former resident and their family. 

“We were pleased that the Ombudsman was satisfied with the service improvements we made based on the findings of our thorough investigation into this matter at the time – including enhanced supervisions and training for our team, and additional oversight into our robust record keeping policies and processes, and we will continue to embed the positive changes we have made.”