Wexford General Hospital Apologises Over Care of Elderly Patient

Wexford General Hospital has issued an apology to the family of an elderly woman who passed away earlier this year, following an internal investigation into several serious concerns raised by the family regarding her care. The hospital acknowledged that the care provided to Patient A, an elderly woman in her 80s, did not meet the standard they strive for. The family had lodged complaints about being denied repeated requests for compassionate visits, as well as a troubling error in the hospital’s records, which falsely stated that a family member was present at her time of death. The family expressed concerns about the quality of care their loved one received, citing her rapid deterioration and the restriction of family visits despite her critical condition. They also felt there was a lack of transparency from the hospital, particularly regarding the severity of her illness and the ongoing changes in her condition. According to the hospital's internal investigation report, had the nursing staff been aware of her decline, they would have informed the family and facilitated visitation. The report confirmed that the hospital's policy is to allow family visits when a patient is at end-of-life and that these visits should be as flexible as possible to accommodate the needs of both the patient and their loved ones. The investigation further revealed that there was a failure in communication when explaining the visitation policy to the family and that the medical records should have clearly indicated that no next of kin were present at the time of her death. The hospital has expressed deep regret for the distress caused to Patient A and her family. It also apologised for the inconvenience caused by moving the patient during her stay, as the hospital was dealing with an outbreak of influenza, Covid-19 and gastroenteritis at the time. Wexford General explained that the limitations of its infrastructure, particularly the lack of single rooms, meant that patient moves were sometimes unavoidable. Wexford General Hospital has upheld the family’s complaints and promised that lessons would be learned from the incident. The hospital has instructed nurse management to discuss the findings with ward staff and has pledged to anonymise the complaint for use in training all staff on end-of-life care. The hospital also reiterated its commitment to improving communication with service users, and it is currently engaged with the HSE Healthcare Communication Programme to enhance patient and family interactions. The hospital has assured the public that it is actively working to ensure that such issues do not arise again and it remains dedicated to improving the standard of care for all patients. HSE responded to South East Radio News with this statement: The HSE doesn’t publicly discuss individual cases when to do so might reveal information in relation to identifiable individuals, breaching the ethical requirement on us to observe our duty of confidentiality. Wexford General Hospital understands how distressing and upsetting this situation was for the family in question. The hospital management team will discuss the lessons learned from what occurred on this occasion and anonymised details will be used for end-of-life training of all staff. We wish to assure our patients and their families that the hospital is committed to improving communication with service users and are engaged with the HSE healthcare communication programme.