An Adelaide man with chronic alcoholism was left without disability care for 45 hours, raising questions about the service provided by a contracted agency, an inquest has been told.
Colin Norman, who had suffered two previous brain injuries, was found dead beside his bed in his home in January 2018 after an apparent fall.
The 66-year-old had been receiving assistance from a support group called HomeCare+ which involved help twice each day with such things as getting in and out of bed, showering and preparing medications.
But counsel assisting Emma Roper told the inquiry into his death on Tuesday that when a carer attended his home on the morning before he died he had asked the person to leave.
There was then a mix-up around shifts and no one attended that night. Next morning the carer rostered on was ill and slept through the shift.
By the time Mr Norman was found dead, no one had seen him for 33 hours and he had not received care for 45 hours.
Ms Roper said the inquest would explore what processes were in place to provide for Mr Norman's care and the adequacy of those processes.
"In particular, this inquest will consider whether HomeCare+ had adequate policies and procedures in place to ensure that support workers knew when they were due to attend a shift, attended their scheduled shift and provided care in accordance with their duties set out in the client's support plan," she said.
"It appears that there was no official procedure in place to guide Homecare+ staff about what ought to be done if a client refused the provision of care.
"This court will consider whether HomeCare+ took adequate steps to record incidences where a client refused a shift and whether they then took appropriate steps to investigate why the client refused that shift."
Ms Roper said the inquest would also consider whether there was a systemic issue with HomeCare+ employees complying with company policies and procedures.
"It is anticipated that the evidence will show that the problems that occurred at HomeCare+ impacted on the care of Mr Norman and in turn the cause of his death," she said.
State Coroner David Whittle was told medical evidence would be provided about the mechanism by which chronic alcoholism might have caused Mr Norman's death, the role of the fall in his death, and whether the position of his body after the fell had any bearing on the cause of death.
