Decision Report 201700217

Summary

Ms C complained on behalf of her daughter (Miss A) about the care and treatment she received from her psychiatrist. Miss A has a diagnosis of bipolar affective disorder (a mental health condition marked by alternating periods of elation and depression) and received care and treatment from the board's Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services for a number of years. Miss A was later transferred to general adult services under the care of a consultant psychiatrist, who met with Ms C and Miss A on three separate occasions. Ms C complained that the treatment Miss A received during this period was unreasonable. Ms C's concerns related in particular to treatment decisions, management plans, communication and attitude.

We took independent advice from a psychiatrist. We found that the consultant acted reasonably in relation to treatment decisions and management, and that, while there was evidence that one of the consultations was challenging for all concerned, there was no evidence that communication was of an unreasonable standard. Therefore, we did not uphold this complaint. However, we made recommendations to the board in regards to record-keeping and the transition from adolescent to adult services.

Recommendations

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

• The board should ensure that adequate records are made of important meetings and filed in patients' medical records.
• The board should improve communication by providing more information about frequency of reviews and expectations, and consider scheduling more frequent reviews to help patients adjust to adult services in similar cases.

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.