Decision Report 201905576

Summary

C complained about the psychiatric care and treatment provided to their spouse (A) by the board. C raised a number of issues which included the behaviour and attitude of a psychiatrist during a consultation with A, that the psychiatrist had remained involved in A's care against A's wishes, and that the psychiatrist had made a diagnosis of factitious disorder (serious mental disorder in which someone deceives others by appearing sick, by purposely getting sick or by self-injury), of which they had failed to notify A and the wider clinical team. C also complained about a clinical psychologist's involvement in A's care, specifically that they had prepared a report relating to A which contained a number of inaccurate statements.

We took independent advice from a consultant psychiatrist. We concluded that the board's management of A was appropriate, patient-centred and reasonable. In relation to the specific complaints C had raised, we found there was no evidence within the clinical records to support C's complaint about the attitude and behaviour of the psychiatrist during a consultation with A, although we accepted that some unhelpful language had been used for which the board had apologised.

We found that the records showed that A had generally been kept up to date with changes to their diagnosis, but that A had not been informed about the change in their diagnosis to factitious disorder. Whilst we considered A should have been informed, this was a relatively minor shortcoming in communication and had no detrimental effect on the overall care and treatment provided to A. We also found that the clinical psychologist's involvement in A's care had been appropriate and reasonable. For these reasons, on balance, we did not uphold C's complaint.