Decision Report 201604158

Summary

Mr C complained about the treatment he received from the prison health care service and from the hospital he attended. In particular, he was concerned about the treatment he received for both a hand injury and hip pain, withdrawal of medication and how his complaint was handled.

We took independent advice from a consultant orthopaedic surgeon and from a GP adviser. Mr C said that he had not received reasonable and appropriate treatment in relation to an injury to his hand. We found that the treatment Mr C had received when he attended the accident and emergency department about the injury had been reasonable. Mr C was also referred to an orthopaedic consultant in another board for a second opinion. However, we found that there had been an unacceptable delay in supplying Mr C with a physiotherapy exercise ball in relation to the injury. Therefore, we upheld this aspect of his complaint. We noted that the board had already apologised for this.

Mr C also complained that the board had failed to provide reasonable and appropriate treatment in relation to his hip pain. Whilst there had been a delay in informing Mr C of the result of a scan, this had been carried out by another board and it was their responsibility to act on this. We found that the treatment Mr C had received from the board for his hip pain had been appropriate. We did not uphold this aspect of his complaint.

Mr C complained that the board had withdrawn his medication after he was found to have too many tablets in his possession. We found that the prison health care service's actions in relation to this matter had been reasonable. We did not uphold this aspect of Mr C's complaint.

Finally, Mr C complained that the board had failed to deal with his complaints adequately. Mr C had made a large number of complaints, but we found that there had been a significant delay in responding to one of the complaints. Therefore, we upheld this aspect of his complaint.

Recommendations

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

• The board should ensure that physiotherapy equipment that has been approved for prisoners is provided within a reasonable timescale.

In relation to complaints handling, we recommended:

• Staff should be aware of the timescales for responding to complaints.

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.