Decision Report 201706162

Summary

Ms C complained about the care and treatment provided to her at Victoria Hospital. Ms C had several admissions for pain associated with gallstones. She complained that the nursing care during two of her admissions was not of a reasonable standard, and that she was not provided with pain relief in a timely manner. Ms C also complained about the treatment provided to her for a wound infection when she attended after surgery to remove her gallbladder.

We took independent advice from a nursing adviser and from a consultant physician. We found that nursing care had not been of a reasonable standard and upheld this aspect of Ms C's complaint. However, as the board had already apologised for this matter and taken action to address it, we made no further recommendations. We did ask for evidence of the steps they said they had already taken.

We found that pain relief had not always been provided to Ms C in a timely manner. We upheld this aspect of the complaint and made a recommendation to address this.

Finally, we found that the treatment provided to Ms C for her wound infection was reasonable and we did not uphold this aspect of Ms C's complaint.

Recommendations

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

• Pain levels should be assessed regularly and pain relief provided in a timely way.

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.