The family of a man who died after catching Covid during a respite stay at a care home, were not told that there had been an outbreak, it has been revealed.
The family were not given the chance to decide whether or not they believed it was safe to send the elderly man, who suffered from dementia, to Stainton Lodge Care Centre, in Middlesbrough, an investigation found.
Redcar and Cleveland Council, which arranged the respite stay, was told to apologise to the relatives of the man following the findings by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
It was also asked to pay a "symbolic" amount of £1,500 to the family, "for distress caused", Teesside Live reports.
The council said it has since apologised and paid the money.
The council also said that in response to a complaint made by the elderly man's son, a visit was made to the care home which "revealed poor recording of temperature checks and lateral flow tests", while an inspection of infection prevention and control measures just days after the older man's death showed areas of concern including inadequate use of PPE and clinical waste bins in corridors outside the rooms of people who had tested positive for the virus.
The elderly man - known as Mr Y in the report - lived at home with support from his family and had been diagnosed with dementia along with a number of other age-related medical conditions, some of which affected his lungs.
His son, known in the report as Mr X, was due to go away in September 2021.
Redcar and Cleveland Council arranged 18 days of residential respite care at Stainton Lodge, where Mr Y's wife was already a resident.
On August 23 last year, Stainton Lodge had an outbreak of Covid in a ground floor unit and Public Health England advised the care home to do a risk assessment before taking any new residents, the ombudsman report has revealed.
Mr X says the care centre did not tell them about the outbreak, despite having done so for previous outbreaks.
Almost a month later, staff from Stainton Lodge visited Mr Y at home on September 21 to test him for Covid and Mr X's partner (Ms W) was with him during the visit.
The care home claims to have told them about the outbreak, but Ms W says this is not true.
The grieving son says, had he known about the outbreak, he would have arranged other care for his father while he was away as his family had made consistent efforts during the pandemic to protect the beloved father from the virus.
Having tested negative for the virus, Mr Y went to the care home on September 23.
But less than two weeks later, on October 5, Mr Y was reported as having a temperature.
The next day Ms W called to arrange a visit for October 7, but was told Stainton Lodge had closed to visitors because of a Covid outbreak.
That day the care home told Mr X his father had tested positive and on October 8 he was taken to hospital.
Mr X returned home and was told his father's condition was stable, but on October 10 his health had deteriorated.
Mr X and his family visited to say goodbye. Mr Y died the next day.
In April 2020, just over a month after the first lockdown was announced, Stainton Lodge Care Centre confirmed 17 residents lost their lives since the start of the pandemic.
While two confirmed positive for Covid, the other 15 died before tests could be carried out.
The care home has been contacted for a comment.
