Decision Report 201203486

Summary

Mr C complained that there was an excessive delay in carrying out surgery on his knee. He said that this delay had breached the target waiting times. The board's position was that he had received his treatment within the target waiting times.

We noted that although there was a gap between Mr C's first consultant appointment and the second appointment (at which the decision to proceed with surgery was made) this was due to tests being carried out to ascertain if surgery was the appropriate option. There was also an issue about the complexity of the operation, which involved the removal and replacement of an existing knee replacement. Due to bone loss around the original prosthesis, a specific orthopaedic surgeon was required. The waiting time target could, therefore, only be applied once it was certain that Mr C would progress to surgery. Once this decision had been made, the operation was carried out in three weeks. We did not uphold the complaint.