Decision Report 201810248

Summary

Mrs C complained that the reporting of x-rays taken of her knees was unreasonable. Mrs C was referred by her GP for an x-ray as she had been suffering from pain in her knees for over a year and her GP thought that she might be experiencing the onset of arthritis (a disease causing painful inflammation and stiffness of the joints) . Knee x-rays were carried out and Mrs C's GP later advised her that the x-rays showed no signs of arthritis. However, Mrs C subsequently attended a private hospital and was advised that x-rays did show early onset arthritis and swelling in both knees. Mrs C stated that the x-rays from the board had not been looked at properly.

We took independent advice from a consultant radiologist (a specialist in diagnosing and treating disease and injury through the use of medical imaging techniques such as x-rays and other scans). We found no evidence that the reporting of Mrs C's knee x-rays had not been reasonable but the images taken allowed for different interpretations and did not give a clear enough picture to result in a definite arthritis diagnosis. Therefore, we did not uphold the complaint.