NHS Tayside apologises over prison tablets delay

NHS Tayside has apologised to a man who had a heart attack i n prison after it emerged there was an “unreasonable delay” in giving him medication.

The health board was found to be at fault in a report by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO).

The man, named as Mr C in the ruling, complained to the ombudsman that there was a delay in giving him his cardiac medication after he was admitted to an unnamed prison.

The report said he was “unhappy” that the medication he had in his possession at the time of his admission was withheld.

Two days after entering prison, Mr C suffered a heart attack and required surgical treatment.

In its ruling, the ombudsman said: “The board (NHS Tayside) accepted that it had taken 24 hours longer than it should have done to verify and prescribe Mr C’s medication.

“They apologised to Mr C and advised him of the steps they had taken as a result of the incident to reduce the likelihood of it recurring.”

As part of its investigation, the SPSO consulted an independent GP.

The investigation found that the health board had acted appropriately in confirming the prescribed medication before it was returned to the complainant.

However, the SPSO was also critical of the “unreasonable delay” in ensuring this was done but added that the delay was “unlikely” to have caused the heart attack. Mr C’s complaint against NHS Tayside was upheld but the ombudsman stopped short of issuing f urther guidance to the health board.

The report read: “Whilst we upheld the complaint, we made no recommendations as the board had taken reasonable action as a result of the incident to identify learning and improve its practice to ensure the matter would not recur.”

NHS Tayside said action had already been taken to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.

A spokeswoman said: “We have written to the patient involved in this case and apologised, and we have already taken action and implemented new processes.”

The Scottish Prison Service declined to comment. A spokeswoman said: “We do not comment on individual prisoners.”