Family thought granny was dead after medication mix-up

The family of a pensioner who was found unresponsive after being given the wrong medication by domiciliary carers have said they thought she had died.

It was the second time in recent months that Ellen Whitla had mistakenly been given medication prescribed to her daughter, including antipsychotic medicine and antidepressants.

She had to be admitted to hospital and was given oxygen in an incident her grandson Gareth Gibson said was frightening.

The South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust has apologised to the 87-year-old and her family following the incident and has launched an investigation.

Mrs Whitla, who takes medication for Parkinson's disease, lives with her daughter in Newtownards.

Domiciliary carers provided by the health trust visit each day to look after Mrs Whitla.

Mr Gibson said that on two occasions - once in August and again earlier in December - the carers went to find her medication in the house and, instead of handing Mrs Whitla her own medication, they handed her her daughter's, which she then took.

The second incident led to her being admitted to hospital.

Between the two incidents Mrs Whitla's daughter's medication dosage had increased.

Both women's medication was in blister packs and was labelled with their names.

Mr Gibson said Mrs Whitla's granddaughter visited her home shortly after she was given the medication on the second occasion and found her unresponsive.

"I was at work and I got the phone call from my sister saying 'I think granny's dead'.

"I was horrified, my heart sank," he said. "We feared what would happen to her, we didn't know if she was going to survive.

"My younger sister was right to think that my grandmother might have been dead, because when I arrived there were not many signs of life, there was not much of a level of response and it wasn't obvious she was breathing."

The family called an ambulance, which took Mrs Whitla to the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald.

She needed to be given oxygen, had low blood pressure and her heart rate was dropping.

Mr Gibson said doctors initially thought something else may have happened to her given her levelof consciousness.

But he said they later told him the cause was an antidepressant from his mother's medication.

She began to regain responsiveness in the evening and was finally able to get out of bed again by 22:00 GMT, 13 hours after she took the medication.

After this she suffered from severe confusion, which continued in the following days.

"Granny wasn't with us, she was away with it," Mr Gibson said. "Her confusion level was just off the Richter scale."

She is now recovering at home, but Mr Gibson said she was still not back to normal.

"She still remains confused," he said.

"Like any 87 year old, my granny could be a bit forgetful, but prior to hospital admission that's as far as it went.

"Now it's just there's that level of confusion."

Mr Gibson said he felt the initial response from the health trust - a phone call from a member of staff - was unprofessional.

"He said he was just ringing to discuss the 'wee incident' with my grandmother," Mr Gibson said.

"In the midst of the fear of my grandmother's health and well-being this was diabolical, this was shambolic, that the first person to contact me was describing this as a 'wee incident'."

"My grandmother could have been dead but this was the first response from the trust."

The trust subsequently contacted Mr Gibson to apologise and told him an investigation was under way.

A spokesperson for the trust told BBC News NI it would advise Mrs Whitla and her family about the outcome of the investigation "and any lessons learned".

"Patient safety is the South Eastern Trust's priority and it takes issues like this very seriously," the spokesperson added.

"The trust continues to care for and support Mrs Whitla in her home."

Mr Gibson said it had been a very worrying time for the family.

"My overriding emotion is one of sadness," he said.

"This shouldn't have happened, this was avoidable and there's always anger there."

Mr Gibson said the family intended to make an official complaint to the trust.

He added that he hoped his granny would recover enough to be able to come to his house on Christmas Day.

"She always has been since we lost my grandfather, she's been in my home every single year," he said.

"I don't know whether I'll get her out of her house this year just because of her level of mobility and confusion."