West Sussex County Council has paid a total of £1,200 to a mother and daughter following a complaint about the standard of care provided by a Copthorne care home.

A report from the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman said that, between October and November 2020, Francis Court Care Home had ‘failed to meet the personal and continence care needs’ of the mother when her daughter wasn’t there to help.

Among the issues mentioned in the report was the fact the mother – known as Mrs Y – was taken to hospital after the daughter – Mrs X – found her ‘unresponsive, sitting in a chair in the lounge, in a soiled pad and wet nightdress, in full view of other residents’.

It also mentioned that Mrs Y – who has dementia – had been refusing personal care.

The ombudsman said: “I am satisfied on balance Mrs Y did not receive care as she should have done from October 9 to November 18.

“The care home should have either reviewed and increased Mrs Y’s provision or given notice because it could no longer meet her needs.

“The fact the care home took neither action at that time is fault.”

Angi Knight, Care UK’s regional director, said: “We pride ourselves on offering kind, safe care to all residents in our homes and would like to once again offer our apologies to the family involved.

“One of the most challenging situations our teams need to deal with is when a resident refuses the support we are trying to offer.

“As part of our learning following this case, we have improved the processes we use to raise these matters with local authorities, so they are able to better support families when alternate placements are required.”

The council, which arranged and commissioned care for Mrs Y at Francis Court, was also found to be at fault by the ombudsman.

It was recommended that the authority should apologise and pay £500 to Mrs Y and £700 to Mrs X for their distress.

The council also agreed to check the care home had processes in place to ensure it acted quickly and appropriately should a resident refuse support.

And it agreed to provide training or give guidance to care home staff to make sure they escalated future concerns about residents’ health appropriately.

A council spokesman said: “We accept the findings from the ombudsman’s report, have apologised to the complainant and her mother and have made the recommended payments.

“We continue to work closely with the care home to ensure processes are in place that will improve the level of care received by customers.

“We will write to the ombudsman within the time-frame requested to update them on the actions taken to address the points raised in their report.”