No social worker for dying woman sees West Berkshire Council apologise

West Berkshire Council has been found to be at fault for not properly safeguarding a dying woman.

The council has paid £250 to a charity and apologised to the woman’s family.

The complaint to the local government ombudsman was made by a Ms X who lived with her mother, known as Mrs Y.

Mrs Y lived at home with Ms X who cared for her.

She had a life limiting illness and had decided in July 2020 to end her life and stopped eating and drinking.

In August 2020, Ms X says she told a health professional that Mrs Y was considering taking some old pills to help her sleep.

They referred her to her GP who then referred her to the mental health team (MHT) who telephoned Ms X.

They told her suicide was illegal and asked her to remove all medication from Ms X’s room, which she did.

The MHT referred to the Police and raised a safeguarding concern.

That evening, two uniformed police officers visited Mrs Y and Ms X.

Ms X says this visit was “unannounced, unwarranted, intrusive, insensitive, disproportionate and outrageous” and it terrified Mrs Y.

Nearly two weeks after the concern was raised, the specialist agency supporting Mrs Y with her health condition, chased the Council for a safeguarding update.

The Council advised it had not yet allocated a social worker.

Two days after the concern was raised, the MHT asked the Council to urgently allocate a social worker.

Later that same day, following the visit to Mrs Y by a psychiatrist and a health specialist, her GP advised Ms X to keep Mrs Y comfortable, and said they had spoken to the safeguarding lead.

The GP said the MHT would not return.

The MHT closed the case. The GP advised Ms X, but the Council was not aware of this.

A week after receiving the concern, and following a call from Ms X about it, the Council referred Mrs Y for an independent advocate to support her with the enquiry. Three days after this, the MHT told the Council it had closed its concerns.

At the beginning of September, Mrs Y died.

Ms X said it was traumatic to see the unfinished safeguarding concern referred to on the death certificate.

She claimed the council did not provide an advocate or social worker to help her make decisions about her care and medication in the last weeks of her life; and did not inform family what was happening.

She said no one contacted family until six days after Mrs Y’s death.

The Ombudsman said had a social worker been allocated it would have prevented uncertainty caused by an open and incomplete enquiry.

The council apologised, and says it is using the case as a learning activity for health and social care teams.