Decision Report 201706372

Summary

Ms C complained that NHS 24 failed to provide appropriate assistance when she called them to raise concerns that her mother (Mrs A) had been discharged from hospital too early following a suicide attempt. She said that she had not received any advice or assistance and complained that she had only been able to speak to a call handler and not a clinician.

We took independent advice from a practitioner experienced in out-of-hours services. We found that NHS 24's handling of the call had been reasonable. The call handler contacted Mrs A, who had told them that she had been seen by psychiatry that day and had psychiatric follow-up arranged. The call handler also spoke to a senior nurse. We found that the advice provided to Ms C had been appropriate and it had been reasonable to advise her to contact Mrs A's GP practice at that time. We did not uphold the complaint.

Ms C also complained about NHS 24's handling of her complaint. We found that this had been reasonable and did not uphold this aspect of the complaint.