Decision Report 201804856

Summary

Mr C's child (Child A) suffered from a rare medical condition. Mr C complained that Child A and their family had not been provided with adequate care and support in the community. In particular, Mr C complained about the failure of the community nurse to visit and the failure by the partnership to provide him with the medical supplies Child A needed.

The partnership had accepted that Mr C and his family had not received a reasonable level of support. We took advice from an independent nursing adviser who considered the action plan the partnership had drawn up in response to Mr C's complaint. We found the action plan was a reasonable response to the issues identified in the complaint. We also found the partnership had taken reasonable steps to address the failings of individual members of staff. We asked the partnership to provide further evidence showing the action plan had been completed. We upheld this aspect of Mr C's complaint, but made no further recommendations.

Mr C also complained that the board failed to investigate his complaint properly. We noted that the partnership should have made it clear to Mr C that information about staff discipline could not be provided to him. However, we found that the boards investigation of Mr C's complaint was reasonable and did not uphold this aspect of his complaint.

Finally, Mr C complained that although the partnership had apologised for failing to provide the appropriate support, they had continued to fail to order medical supplies for Child A. We found the partnership had failed to provide medical supplies as promised following Mr C's complaint. The partnership were, however, able to provide evidence that subsequently they had been able to consistently provide the medical supplies Child A needed. We upheld this aspect of Mr C's complaint but made no further recommendations given the action already taken by the board to fix the problem.