Decision report 201203132

Summary

Mr C was unhappy about a delay in reporting the result of a test carried out on a blood sample from his late mother. He said that by the time the board contacted the GP with the result of the test, his mother had deteriorated and required hospital admission. He complained to us that the board's investigation of his complaint was inadequate.

We took independent advice from one of our medical advisers. In considering the complaint we noted that the board had apologised for the delay in reporting the result. They explained that this was caused by human error, and that they had reminded the staff member of their responsibilities. When the error was discovered, urgent action was taken to contact Mr C's mother's GP. Our medical adviser said that the time taken to report on the blood sample was in fact reasonable, but that the member of staff had missed an opportunity to report it sooner. We did not uphold the complaint as we found that the board had carried out a thorough investigation, and had taken appropriate action to prevent this happening again.