Aged Care Commissioner Carolyn Cooper. Photo: Supplied
The aged care commissioner says a stroke victim - who was unable to communicate - was deprived of pain relief as he suffered from a large pressure wound in the last months of his life.
A report released on Tuesday showed staff at Mayfair Lifecare in Christchurch failed to follow clear instructions for the man's care and ignored the man's daughter's requests for medication.
It said during 2019, the man endured more than 20 painful dressing changes without the morphine prescribed to accompany the procedure.
Aged Care Commissioner Carolyn Cooper said there was confusion between which of several wound charts staff were following, which affected their coordination of the man's care.
Cooper said she was critical that staff did not adhere to the medication management policy of recording when morphine was given, including the rationale for its administration and its effect.
"In my view, this raises concerns about staff adherence to policies and medication instructions, and communication with residents' advocates," Cooper said.
The man's daughter said she believed her father's lack of care constituted elder abuse.
"Think about how you would feel knowing your parent was in agony and you were unable to fight the system."
Cooper recommended Mayfair Lifecare apologise to the man's family and conduct random checks of staff's adherence to pain, wound and pressure injury management policies.
Mayfair accepted the report's recommendations and said it had continued to review its processes to ensure lessons learned from the complaint were reflected in its standard of care.
