A WOMAN who watched in anguish as her distressed mother lay dying in a hospital bed has won an apology from NHS Borders.

The Scottish Public Service Ombudsman (SPSO) has upheld a complaint by the daughter that her loved one did not get the care she deserved during the last hours of her life in the BGH.

Not only has the watchdog ordered an apology from the local health board, it has also demanded that two procedural reviews should take place, including one by the hospital’s service manager for medicines, to address issues raised in the complaint.

It has also asked for evidence of the board’s plan for terminal and end of life care and the staff training which supports it.

Responding to these recommendations, a health board spokesperson said last week: “NHS Borders accepts and has acted on the recommendations made by the SPSO.” The Ombudsman’s report acknowledges that the deceased’s daughter (referred to as Mrs C) believed that, at other times, the standard of care provided to her late mother (Mrs A) had been good or excellent during her stay in hospital.

“Mrs C and other family members were aware that Mrs A was in the final few days of her life and had stayed with her throughout the night,” states the report.

“Mrs C said that Mrs A suffered unnecessarily because staff failed to check or assess her condition, despite family members reporting her distress to them.

“The board told us that Mrs A was assessed every time family members asked staff for help, although it also noted that drugs that might have provided some pain relief for Mrs A could have been given earlier.

“We found, however, that Mrs A’s medical records did not contain the necessary entries to support the statement about assessment and that there were some gaps in these records.

“Based on the information available, we could not therefore conclude that they properly assessed Mrs A’s needs and we upheld the complaint.” Meanwhile, the SPSO, following another investigation, has dismissed a complaint from a woman who claimed her 93-year-old mother was not given “reasonable care and treatment” after being admitted to the BGH with a chest infection. She died three days later.

The complaint hinged around the patient telling staff on the day of her death that she did not want to receive further treatment and the discovery by the daughter that her mother was not considered suitable for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

The SPSO, which took independent advice from a doctor specialising in the care of the elderly and a senior nurse, concluded: “We found that the care and treatment was reasonable and appropriate.”