A woman was left hospitalised for four weeks with a severe lung and kidney infection in 2019 after a care facility provided "suboptimal care".
The woman was living at a NZCommunity Living Ltd facility. When she was accepted into the facility her parents provided information about her complicated medical history.
The facility was meant to closely monitor any illness, particularly ones which could result in the woman becoming dehydrated.
Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner Rose Wall said the woman was unwell between September 6 and 9 in 2019.
On September 10, staff took her to see her GP where the doctor advised them to bring her back if her symptoms worsened or didn't improve over the next 48 hours — she had diarrhoea and felt unwell.
On September 13, the woman's mother noticed she was coughing a lot and sounded breathless. Later that day she rang the facility and asked if her daughter could visit a doctor again but was told a home visit was too expensive.
Later that night the woman advised the facility she was picking her daughter up and taking her to hospital.
When the woman arrived at the hospital she was admitted to the critical care unit with a severe kidney and lung infection.
She was in the critical care unit for two weeks and then spent a further two weeks recovering in the hospital ward.
Wall said she was critical of the management of the woman when she showed clear deterioration between September 6 and 12.
"There was a lack of monitoring and documentation of her food and fluid intake, and no short-term care plan was developed in response to a temporary change in health and support needs.
"In addition, her personal plan specifically noted that she was to be taken to hospital if she experienced both diarrhoea and vomiting, but this was not followed," she said.
Wall added that the facility also gave the woman the antibiotic Augmentin, even though she was allergic to it.
Wall found NZCommunity Living breached Right 4(1) of the Code of Health and Disability Service Consumers' Rights — the right to services of an appropriate standard, provided with reasonable care and skill.
She recommended the facility write a formal apology to the woman's family and schedule refresher education for staff on short-term care plans and the management of a deteriorating condition.
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