Decision report 201004451

Summary
Mr and Mrs C complained that the board unreasonably delayed in performing a sperm retrieval operation to find out if in vitro fertilisation was likely to be a successful route for them to have a child. Mr C said that in August 2010 he was told that he would receive an appointment for this soon. In October of that year, however, he discovered that his consultant had moved to another hospital that did not have the specialist equipment or insurance for transporting the sample for testing. When investigating the complaint, we asked the board for the medical records and their comments and they told us that they had already acted to resolve the complaint. There has been a meeting between the departments concerned and the board have ordered equipment to enable transportation of sperm samples to testing facilities. They are also considering how they can reduce waiting times for this procedure for other patients. Mr C has a revised date for his operation and can come back to us if this does not happen when expected.