Decision Report 201803545

Summary

Mr C complained about the care provided to his late mother (Mrs A) by staff at Wishaw General Hospital. Mrs A had attended the emergency department following a fall at home. She was observed for a few hours and discharged home. Mrs A fell again at home that evening and had to be readmitted to hospital where it was established that she had problems with the blood supply to her left leg. Mrs A was told that no further treatment could be given and she was commenced on palliative care. Mr C believed that the seriousness of his mother's condition should have been identified on the first attendance to hospital.

We took independent advice from a consultant in emergency medicine. We found that on the first attendance the staff carried out a thorough assessment, made appropriate investigations and reasonably concluded that Mrs A could be discharged home with follow-up by the hospital at home team. When Mrs A re- attended hospital, her observations were mostly normal and it was only after a further period of review that issues were identified which revealed a lack of blood supply to her left leg. We found that the staff could not reasonably have predicted that Mrs A would go on to have subsequent problems. We did not uphold the complaint.