Decision Report 201508291

Summary

Mrs C suffers from fibromyalgia (a long term condition that causes pain all over the body). Over the course of several years, she received a number of treatments including acupuncture and attended the pain management clinic at Crosshouse Hospital. Unfortunately, none of the treatments resulted in good control of Mrs C's pain and, in early 2014, a decision was made to discontinue her acupuncture course and to discharge her. It was suggested that she attend a pain management programme but Mrs C disagreed and complained to the board.

We took independent advice from a consultant in anaesthesia and pain specialist and we found that Mrs C had received all the standard pain management approaches for fibromyalgia but that her treatment had not been successful. We learned that this was not uncommon. Mrs C had also had a second opinion but it was agreed that there was little that could be done for her that would likely make a significant lasting difference and that it would be futile to continue.

While it was evident that Mrs C suffers considerable pain and it was hugely disappointing that medication or other intervention would not help her, there was no evidence to suggest that this was the consequence of any action or inaction on the part of the board. For this reason, we did not uphold the complaint.