Decision Report 202210978

Summary

C, a support and advocacy worker, complained on behalf of their client (A) that the board unreasonably prescribed A with Flutiform (a type of medication to treat asthma). A presented to hospital with symptoms of severe asthma and was admitted to the high dependency unit for management of their symptoms. Following assessment, A was prescribed with Flutiform. A’s symptoms improved and they discharged themselves from hospital.

A complained that Flutiform worsened their symptoms and should not have been prescribed, as they had previously suffered adverse reactions and informed the nurse of this during their assessment at the hospital. In their response to the complaint, the board said that Flutiform was prescribed in line with relevant guidelines and that there was no record of A having indicated that they had previous adverse reactions to Flutiform.

We took independent advice from a consultant physician in respiratory medicine. We found that whilst there is some record that Flutiform had not worked well for A, there was no evidence of an allergy in the clinical records. Whilst A recalled that they raised concerns about the use of Flutiform during the assessment, the contemporaneous assessment records, clinical records available at the time, and relevant guidelines supported the conclusion that there was no evidence against prescribing Flutiform to A. Therefore, we did not uphold C's complaint.