Decision report 201001207

Summary
Ms A started to feel unwell while working abroad. She attended a hospital there for scans before returning to Scotland. Ms A attended her GP and explained the problems she was experiencing. She gave him the scans and medical reports, but as these were not in English, he was unable to read them. He agreed to send the scans to a hospital for interpretation, but the radiologist there did not look at them. Ms A attended the surgery again and asked for a private referral, which the GP made. She was also to be referred for an ultrasound scan but the GP did not send the form and assumed his secretary had done so. It was six weeks before the referral took place and Ms A was eventually diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She underwent major surgery, including a hysterectomy, removal of a bowel tumour and the fitting of a stoma. Ms A’s parents, Mr and Mrs C, felt that it took too long for their daughter’s concerns to be taken seriously, and complained on her behalf that treatment was delayed. They said this was because there was delay in diagnosing Ms A’s condition, including a failure to translate the test results into English. Mr and Mrs C were also unhappy with the aftercare provided in the community and felt it was inadequate.

We did not uphold the complaint about aftercare. We found from looking at the medical records and taking advice from one of the Ombudsman’s professional medical advisers that the aftercare provided was appropriate. We found that various healthcare professionals in appropriate disciplines saw Ms A. Her medical records show that she received appropriate levels of advice, care and support. We did not uphold the complaint about the delay in diagnosis either. Our adviser said that it would not have been appropriate for the GP to have attempted to interpret the scan, as he was not qualified to do so. This was an issue appropriate for a radiologist and as requested by Ms A the GP sent the scans to a hospital radiologist for interpretation, although ultimately the radiologist did not do this. The GP also arranged appropriate tests. However, he failed to request an appointment for an ultrasound scan despite intending to do so. He did not realise this until some six weeks later when Ms A said that she had not yet received an appointment. Ms A had attended a private consultation during that time and her symptoms were under review. If the ultrasound scan had been ordered earlier, however, the results would have been available more quickly and could have led to an earlier diagnosis.

Recommendations
We recommended that the medical practice formally apologise to Ms A for the failure to order an ultrasound scan.