Elderly woman in Portsmouth mistakenly fed dog food by care worker

A woman in Portsmouth was fed dog food in the last few months of her life by care workers.

Portsmouth City Council has apologised for the incident, which was carried out by care workers employed by Radis who were contracted to provide home care for the council.

It was part of a litany of errors which included force feeding her, and sometimes not feeding her, as well as leaving her on her own for “prolonged periods of time”.

The woman’s outraged family reported her treatment to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, which investigated the care given to her before her death.

The report found the care she received, commissioned by the council, amounted to a “significant personal injustice”.

Initial concerns

The woman, referred to as Mrs Y, was an “older adult” who received domiciliary, or at-home, care from GP Homecare Ltd, otherwise known as Radis.

Most of her care was provided while she was confined to bed following a fall in April 2024, which left her with reduced mobility.

Care workers visited her home each day to support her needs.

Mrs Y’s son raised safeguarding concerns about a “lack of management oversight at Radis”, alleging staff did not refer to her care plan, visits were recorded inaccurately, a ‘Do Not Attempt Resuscitation’ document was found “scrunched up in a cupboard”.

The council opened a Section 42 safeguarding enquiry to investigate the concerns, while Radis launched an internal investigation.

Mrs Y later suffered a mini-stroke, and her family and Radis agreed she needed a “soft diet due to the increased risk of choking”.

Dog food

In mid-June 2024, two care workers attended Mrs Y’s home. During the visit, one care worker cooked and fed her what was recorded as a “lamb dinner”.

One week later, the second care worker raised concerns about the visit, including witnessing the first care worker “feed dog food” to Mrs Y.

The care worker “only realised the meat was dog food when they noticed the packaging in the kitchen”.

They attempted to contact a senior colleague to report the incident but received no answer. A week later, they reported what had happened in person.

The senior manager asked them “why they did not remove the dog food” during the visit, asked “why they did not report the incident on the day it happened”, and told them to remove the dog food from Mrs Y’s freezer “to prevent any other care workers doing the same”.

It was later revealed that the care worker “fed three mouthfuls of microwaved dog food to Mrs Y”.

“This was vacuum packed dog food stored by Mrs Z in Mrs Y’s freezer. The food was labelled as “fresh take on dog food” and “for adult dogs and puppies”.”

A meeting took place between Radis and the family, who decided they wanted another care provider.

However, in July 2024, Mrs Y’s daughter reported that her mother’s health had deteriorated. As a result, the family decided to delay the new provider’s start date, meaning Radis continued to provide end-of-life care.

“Around this time,” the report adds, Mrs Y’s daughter alleged that “footage from Mrs Y’s home camera showed evidence of a care worker force feeding Mrs Y”.

A safeguarding meeting later confirmed the allegations relating to the dog food incident.

Later in July 2024, Mrs Y died. The coroner concluded she “died from frailty of old age”.

Radis responded to Mrs Z’s complaint in late July 2024. It accepted fault in the care provided, confirmed the action taken against the care workers and apologised. However, it did not agree to the remedies sought.

In October, the council concluded its safeguarding investigation. It found failings including a lack of mobility support, providing stale or inedible food, failing to monitor and record food and fluid intake, and medication not being independently accessible.

The investigation also found Mrs Y was “left unattended for prolonged periods and on occasions left wet or in darkness overnight”.

Staffing was found to be “inconsistent”, with concerns raised about staff “attitude, compassion and respectful communication”.

Her care plans were “significantly” out of date and did not reflect her needs following her stroke. There were also “Allegations that staff falsified records and that some visits had not taken place despite being recorded”.

The investigation also found staff had “unintentionally” fed Mrs Y dog food, and referred to “CCTV footage alleged to show a care worker feeding Mrs Y in a manner the family considered forceful”.

Result

The ombudsman recommended the council apologise, refund the care fees, and offer a symbolic payment of £1,000 to the family to “recognise significant distress” and the “delays” in the safeguarding investigation.

Councillor Matthew Winnington, cabinet member for community wellbeing, health and care, said: “We accept the Ombudsman’s findings in full and recognise the seriousness of what happened in this case. We ended our contract with Radis early and we no longer work with, or commission services from them.

“The care described in this report is not the standard anyone should expect, particularly at such a vulnerable time in someone’s life. We have apologised to the family and are very sorry for the distress they have experienced; we know this has been deeply upsetting for the family.

“We have accepted all the actions the Ombudsman has recommended including refunding care costs and making financial payments to recognise the impact on the family.

“These events happened two years ago, and since then we have taken action to strengthen how we oversee care providers. This includes closer monitoring where there are risks, informal inspection and clearer processes for escalating serious issues.

“Our Adult Social Care service also put in place a safeguarding improvement plan, reviewing procedures, practice and how we respond to safeguarding concerns that are shared with us.

“We now have a more robust system for responding to safeguarding adult concerns and escalating issues of concern in a timely way. Our focus is on learning from this and making sure standards continue to improve.

“Our adult social care services recently received a ‘good’ rating from the Care Quality Commission, reflecting the wider positive experiences of residents, the strength of partnership working across the city, and the support available to help people remain independent.

“While we know there is always more to do, this case is an important reminder of the need to be ever vigilant, we remain committed to continually improving services and ensuring residents receive high-quality care and support.”

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