AN apology has been issued to the family of an elderly man over failures in his care at a city rehabilitation centre – after he died in hospital shortly after leaving the facility.

A watchdog says staff at the Timberdine Nursing and Rehabilitation Unit did not keep adequate records on one of its patients in a report published last week.

Worcestershire County Council bosses offered the patient's daughter £300 in compensation, but she turned this down as she was not interested in a payout.

Instead, the council gave the woman a £72.50 reimbursement for her father's clothing that was lost at the centre.

Her dad, who was described as frail and elderly, was admitted to the centre, now the Worcester City Inpatient Unit, on March 1, 2016.

However, he was sent back to hospital four days later and died that evening from pneumonia.

County councillor Adrian Hardman, cabinet member for adult social care, said: "We accept the findings set out in the ombudsman report and we have apologised to the family.

"We have already acted on and actioned both recommendations made in the report.

"The points raised by the ombudsman have been discussed with managers in adult social care and lessons have been learned from this matter."

The Local Government Ombudsman report criticised the centre, in Timberdine Close, Worcester, for not completing a treatment plan for the patient's wounds, branding this a 'significant failing'.

The father had dressings on his right ankle and below his left knee, however his daughter claimed that the dressing on his ulcer had gone when she visited him in the centre.

Staff did not write down how often wounds would be measured or re-dressed as part of his treatment plan, according to the report.

The report added that there should have been psychological observations of the patient after a nurse spotted him looking pale and sleepy on March 5.

In addition, the watchdog found that her father's food and fluid charts were incomplete, creating uncertainty about whether he had been eating properly.

The records also failed to show how often the patient was checked, prompting concerns that he did not receive an appropriate standard of care.

Peter Pinfield, chairman of Healthwatch Worcestershire, said: “The ombudsman report highlights some serious service faults in the recording and sharing of essential information between the professionals.

“We would totally support the recommendations the ombudsman makes and we presume they have been enacted by the county council.

“It might be time for an unannounced visit from the CQC just to reassure ourselves that things are tip-top."

The ombudsman's report also noted that the daughter complained about her father shivering in the centre after the windows in his room were opened, and that his pressure mattress had deflated.

Worcestershire County Council told the ombudsman it did not know how long the mattress had been deflated and said staff had opened the windows to air the room.

Timberdine Nursing and Rehabilitation Unit was registered as a care home and rehabilitation centre with Worcestershire County Council until April 1, 2016, when it transferred to Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust.

The trust registered the centre as a community hospital and renamed it Worcester City Inpatient Unit in July 2017.