Family to receive £400 compensation after Luton care home 'lost' late father's belongings

A family is to be paid £400 by Luton Borough Council to compensate for a relative’s personal possessions lost by a local care home during the pandemic.

A complainant, referred to as Mrs X, said Georgiana Care Home in Leagrave, where the council placed her late father, failed to protect his belongings, which were lost or destroyed, according to an independent review.

“The care home accepts this,” explained a local government and social care ombudsman’s report.

Mrs X’s father was living in the care home when he went into hospital in December 2020, where he died later that month.

The care home packed his possessions into a suitcase and two laundry bags, leaving them in his locked room.

In March 2021, Mrs X contacted the care home as she noticed someone else was using her father’s phone number, explained the report. “After checking his packed possessions, the care home confirmed the phone was still there.

“When responding to her concern, it told her this may be because his network supplier reused numbers which hadn’t been operative for 90 days.

“On March 13th, Mrs X’s brother e-mailed the care home about arranging a time to collect their father’s possessions. Nothing came of this.

“The care home moved his possessions within a fortnight to a third room, used to store items including mattresses, which wasn’t always locked.”

It subsequently decided to clear the room, said the report. “The person remembered disposing of old mattresses, black bags and a broken television into four skips, but didn’t recall seeing a green suitcase or the laundry bags.”

The family had made attempts to arrange to collect the possessions in June, but it was October when the care home agreed to ask anyone who might know what happened to them. It failed to get back to Mrs X, so she made a complaint.

Responding to her complaint in November, the Heritage Group, which runs the premises, accepted the care home had made mistakes and apologised to Mrs X.

“It had failed to follow the correct procedures, as there was no inventory of her father’s possessions,” added the report. “And it failed to protect them after he died, despite promising to do so.

“Although the country was in lockdown until June 21st 2021, his family should have been able to collect them without entering the care home.

“The loss of his possessions has caused avoidable distress to his family, who wanted to keep some of them as mementos.

“When a council commissions another organisation to provide services on its behalf, it remains responsible for the actions of the organisation supplying these.

“So, although I found fault with the actions of the care home, I’ve recommended the council pays the family £400 within four weeks for the distress caused by the loss of his possessions.

“Within eight weeks, the local authority should provide evidence the care home has procedures in place to produce an inventory when someone moves there and stores possessions securely after anyone has left or died. The council has agreed to do this.”