Decision Report 201508575

Summary

Miss C raised a number a number of concerns about the care and treatment her daughter (child A) received when she attended Raigmore Hospital. In particular, she complained that staff failed to listen to her and this had an adverse effect on her daughter. Miss C also complained that there was an unreasonable delay in obtaining a jejunal feeding tube (a small tube that is passed through the nose or mouth and into the small intestine).

We took independent advice from a consultant general paediatrician. The advice we received and accepted was that, overall, the care and treatment child A received was reasonable. However, we were concerned about the delay in obtaining the jejunal feeding tube. The adviser also said that there was no evidence in the medical records of an overarching plan for child A's care and that, overall, the communication with Miss C was not adequate for her needs. We upheld Miss C's complaint. During our investigation the board met with Miss C and agreed to discuss ways in which they could improve communication with her around medical issues whilst her daughter was in hospital.

Recommendations

We recommended that the board:

• consider how staff might escalate matters when there appears to be unnecessary delays in obtaining specialist items, such as jejunal tubes, which are not kept in hospital and which result in delays in treatment;
• provide an update on the improvements implemented in relation to the communication with Miss C around medical issues whilst her daughter is in hospital; and
• consider the adviser's comments, particularly in relation to the need for an overarching care plan agreed with Miss C, in future admissions to hospital.