Decision Report 201701813

Summary

Mr C complained that the board failed to arrange his appointment for prostate surgery following a referral from another board within a reasonable time. Mr C's concerns included that the board unreasonably failed to send the letter for his appointment with the consultant at New Victoria Hospital to his correct address and that it was nearly three months until he was seen at the hospital. He also said the board failed to acknowledge the impact of the delay in arranging his appointment on the treatment of his cancer, including that he was advised by the board that he could not have the proposed surgery.

We took independent advice on the case from a consultant urologist. We found that the delay in Mr C's appointment was not acceptable. The board explained that they had Mr C's old address in their patient management system and when they received his referral, they failed to update the address. The board apologised for this and said that staff had been reminded of the importance of checking patient details on receipt of referrals and carrying out updates where necessary. They said the member of staff involved had been made aware of the considerable impact the error had on Mr C and would be given additional training, following which their performance would be closely monitored. We asked the board to provide us with evidence of their remedial action.

We found that the board correctly stated that the delay in Mr C's appointment would have been unlikely to have accounted for Mr C's cancer moving from operable to inoperable. The adviser said they did not think that there was a change in the extent of Mr C's cancer between him being referred to the board and him being seen by the consultant at the board.

We upheld Mr C's complaint. We asked the board to provide us with evidence of the steps they have taken to stop these failings occuring again in the future, however we made no further recommendations.