Investigation into the care of a patient in Causeway Hospital (Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman,28 November 2025)

Summary

This report from the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman relates to the care and treatment the Northern Health and Social Care Trust provided to a patient. The patient, who was 85 years old at the time, has now sadly passed away. The complainant is the patient’s son. He said the Trust provided his father with substandard care, causing him severe bed sores. He found his father in a wet state on several occasions, indicating staff did not meet his toileting needs for extended periods of time.  

The investigation founding several failings in pressure damage care and treatment in this case. This included a failure to reassess the patient’s pressure ulcer risk appropriately; a failure to reposition the patient appropriately on several occasions; and a failure to develop an appropriate care plan for managing the patient’s incontinence. Its recommendation is that the Trust apologises to the complainant for the failures and injustice identified and that it provides refresher training on certain aspects of pressure damage care and treatment to relevant staff and reviews its protocol for managing patients’ incontinence.