Decision Report 201502573

Summary

Miss C complained about the board after using their Ayrshire Doctors on Call (ADOC) out-of-hours service twice. She was unhappy with the treatment she received as, on the first occasion, her gallstones were misdiagnosed as muscular pain. The second time she received the correct diagnosis, but was sent home with painkillers and asked to attend her GP the next morning.

We took independent advice from a medical adviser who is a GP. The adviser said that the treatment Miss C received on her second presentation was reasonable. She was given the correct diagnosis and her symptoms did not justify an emergency hospital submission. Therefore, the correct course of action was to direct her to her GP to arrange an ultrasound scan. However, based on the symptoms Miss C presented with on the first occasion, the adviser considered the diagnosis of muscular pain she received from a nurse practitioner was not reasonable. The adviser felt that further investigation or a referral to the GP should have been made. As such, we upheld the complaint.

Recommendations

We recommended that the board:

• apologise to Miss C for the failings identified;
• share the outcome of this complaint with relevant ADOC staff; and
• discuss the issues identified with the nurse practitioner to assess whether any additional learning is required in the assessment and diagnosis of acute abdominal pain.