A health board has been ordered to issue an apology after nursing staff “consulted NHS24” for advice on how to treat a dementia patient who developed sepsis.

The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) has instructed NHS Lanarkshire to apologise to the patient’s child, referred to as C to protect their anonymity.

C’s parent, referred to as A, had a common form of dementia (vascular dementia) which affected their mobility, and was admitted to a community hospital following a fall.

The SPSO stated that had a member of the clinical team at the hospital performed an in person review of the severity of A’s condition, sepsis could have been prevented by intravenous antibiotics.

It noted an “overall lack of clinical input into A’s care during their admission” and concluded that this was the reason for the delay in a sepsis diagnosis.

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