Decision report 201101055

Summary
Mr C's daughter (Ms A) was admitted to hospital suffering from abdominal pain. A few days later, a scan revealed a large cyst on Ms A's left ovary. The registrar telephoned the on-call duty consultant. They decided to discharge Ms A and to arrange elective surgery at a later date as her condition stabilised and Ms A was told to return to hospital if the severe pain returned. Several days after her discharge, Ms A saw a private consultant who operated and removed a cyst from her left ovary.

Mr C complained that the staffing levels were unreasonable during his daughter’s admission to hospital which meant that she was not reviewed personally by a consultant and that the discharge plan and arrangements were also unreasonable. He said that the failures by the board had put Ms A's life and health at risk.

We found that the staffing levels were reasonable and that the care and treatment Ms A received, including the discharge plan and arrangements, was also reasonable. We found no evidence that Ms A required emergency surgery on her discharge from hospital or that her health or life was at risk at any time.