Decision Report 201404219

Summary

Mr C complained because he said the prison health centre had unreasonably stopped or reduced his medication. In particular, he said that omeprazole (medication for stomach acid) and vitamin B had not been prescribed. He also said his diabetic medication had been reduced without explanation.

The board confirmed that prisoners were responsible for reordering some medication themselves, including omeprazole. They also confirmed that the health centre at Mr C's previous prison had stopped his prescription for vitamin B. The prison doctor confirmed that he prescribed Mr C's diabetic medication to be taken twice a day, rather than three times. He was unsure why he had reduced the medication but confirmed that he had since increased the dosage back to three times a day.

We took independent medical advice, and asked our adviser whether the decision to reduce Mr C's diabetic medication was reasonable. Our adviser noted the doctor's comments and suggested that the reduction had most probably occurred as a result of an error when writing up the prescription. The adviser said it would be unusual to reduce a patient's diabetic medication without close monitoring or evidence of improvement in blood sugar levels. They also said that because Mr C's medication was increased after he reported raised sugar levels, he was unlikely to have suffered any harm. In light of the evidence, and having considered the views of our medical adviser, we did not uphold Mr C's complaint, although we made a recommendation.

Recommendations

We recommended that the board:

• apologise to Mr C for the possible error when writing his prescription for his diabetic medication.