Decision Report 201704087

Summary

Mr C complained about the care and treatment he received at New Victoria Hospital. Mr C had been experiencing ongoing and worsening pain in his hip region and considered that there was an unreasonable delay in treating the cause of this pain.

We took independent medical advice from a consultant orthopaedic surgeon (a  surgeon who diagnoses and treats a wide range of conditions of the musculoskeletal system).

We found that appropriate investigations were carried out to find the cause of Mr  C's hip pain but the cause of his hip pain was still unclear following these. Mr  C was referred for physiotherapy to see if that improved his condition. However, there was an unreasonable delay in offering Mr C a physiotherapy appointment. This was due to an error in the referral process, as the referral was not received by physiotherapy. We considered this delay to be unreasonable and upheld Mr C's complaint. However, we noted that the board had acknowledged and apologised for this delay.

Recommendations

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

• There should be an appropriate process in place between orthopaedics and physiotherapy to ensure that referrals are received.