Decision Report 201401137

Summary

Ms C complained about the care and treatment she had received from the board. She felt she was discharged too promptly following minor surgery at Glasgow Royal Infirmary and, when she was readmitted to the Western Infirmary, that she was given inadequate medication. Ms C was also unhappy about her follow up care following her second discharge.

Our role was to assess whether Ms C's treatment was reasonable in the circumstances. We took independent medical advice which said that clinical staff had, on each occasion, followed the relevant guidance. Our adviser did not think additional steps should reasonably have been taken either time or that Ms C's medical outcome would have been different had she remained in hospital longer. He also had no concerns about Ms C's medication.

Although the adviser noted that many surgeons would have discharged Ms C to her GP practice without planned follow-up, the fact was that follow-up care had been planned for Ms C after she was discharged from the Western Infirmary. We took account her difficulties contacting staff to obtain this care (there had been an administrative error booking her appointments), but recognised that Ms C was ultimately seen at a follow-up appointment. The board also confirmed the steps they had taken as a result of Ms C's complaint and so, although we took this shortcoming into account, we did not consider that Ms C's care as a whole had been unreasonable. We did not uphold her complaint.