A weighty matter

Patient’s stocking worry

An ove rweight patient made an official complaint that hospital staff were mocking him for his vast size.

He was furious that his varicose vein surgery had to be put off - because there were no large surgical stockings kept at Ayr Hospital.

The mystery man - known only as “Mr C” - lodged an official complaint with watchdogs that Ayrshire and Arran Health Board had failed him.

Mr C readily admitted he was “unusually large” and had already received custom- made support stockings from Ayr Hospital.

An official report by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman did not chastise the hospital.

It simply making a recommendation that the doctor involved was “reminded” of the importance of having bigger stockings available prior to surgery.

The patient required stockings with a greater degree of compression than his day- to- day pair.

Mr C felt the delay was unacceptable and that staff had failed to recognise the serious inconvenience this had caused him.

The SPSO said: “We took independent advice from a consultant vascular surgeon and consultant physician.

“They found that it was unreasonable for the board to have not ensured the correct size of stocking was available.

“We therefore upheld this aspect of Mr C’s complaint.”

Mr C said that staff had made fun of his unusual size, which he considered unprofessional.

But the report ruled: “We were unable to investigate this aspect of Mr C’s complaint as it was not possible to confirm what had been said.

“Mr C also complained that he had not been p rovided w i t h a n appropriate level of i n f o rmation about the planned surgical procedure and that he had subsequently found out there were possible serious side effects. Mr C said he would not have consented to the procedure had he been aware of these.

“We found, however, that the decision not to proceed with surgery due to the correct size of stockings not being available was appropriate given Mr C’s medical history.”

Professor Hazel Borland, executive nurse director, said: “NHS Ayrshire and Arran takes all patients’ feedback, comments, concerns or complaints seriously.

“We have apologised to Mr C for failing to order the necessary stockings to allow his surgery to go ahead on the original date provided.

“We have taken on board this feedback and have reminded our staff of the importance of having items such as this preordered.”