Decision report 201102615

Summary
Ms C complained that she had to wait an unreasonably long time for appointments for problems with her hip, and that after that she had to wait an unreasonably long time for surgery. She complained that this breached the government's 'referral to treatment' target. She also complained that the board failed to provide a response to her complaints.

After taking advice from our medical adviser, we did not uphold Ms C's complaints about waiting time. We found that, overall, her clinical treatment was reasonable. She was first seen by an orthopaedic consultant after a referral from her GP, and was then referred to and seen by a physiotherapist, all within the governmental target. We accepted the board's position that this was when Ms C's treatment started. We found that the decision to refer Ms C for physiotherapy was appropriate, and that she needed to go through this programme before surgery could be considered. Therefore, we did not consider that her wait for surgery was unreasonable. When it was established that physiotherapy had not been successful, the orthopaedic consultant referred Ms C for a scan. The results of the scan indicated that hip surgery was appropriate. At that time, the board had withdrawn funding for this procedure, so Ms C was referred to another board area. She subsequently underwent surgery privately.

Although we acknowledged Ms C's frustration, both about waiting time and the withdrawal of funding, we found that her treatment was appropriate. We did find there was an unreasonable delay in Ms C receiving a full response to her complaint, and were critical of the board about this.