Decision Report 201607405

Summary

Ms C, who works for an advocacy and support agency, complained on behalf of her client (Mrs A). She complained that when Mrs A had been admitted to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital with shortness of breath and chest pain, she was not provided with proper care. Ms C also complained that Mrs A was inappropriately discharged from the hospital, as three weeks after Mrs A's admission, she was diagnosed with interstitial lung disease (thickening of the tissue between the air sacs of the lungs).

During our investigation, we took independent advice from a consultant physician and found that whilst appropriate tests were carried out when Mrs A was in hospital, there was a delay in her chest x-ray being formally reported. The adviser said that had the chest x-ray been reported sooner, the clinician may have arranged further investigations which could have led to an earlier diagnosis of interstitial lung disease. We therefore upheld this aspect of Ms C's complaint. However, we found that the decision to discharge Mrs A had been reasonable as there was nothing to suggest at that time that she had serious health problems.

Recommendations

What we asked the organisation to do in this case:

• The board should apologise to Mrs A.

What we said should change to put things right in future:

• The board should ensure that formal reports should be more readily available, particularly for acute or unscheduled patients.

We have asked the organisation to provide us with evidence that they have implemented the recommendations we have made on this case by the deadline we set.