Board apologises after man’s death

The health board had been told to apologise after it was found that expected standards had not been met with regards to treatment, record-keeping and the handling of complaints.

In reports published by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO), the man — named only as Mr A — had suffered an “unreasonable” delay between being referred for treatment for his bowel cancer at Ninewells Hospital and treatment actually beginning.

As part of his treatment, the patient had part of his large bowel removed — consent for which the watchdog found had not been obtained properly.

Mr A was readmitted for emergency surgery four days later, after which he was transferred to the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU). He died the next day.

In its investigation, during which it sought expert advice, the SPSO found that while the care given to Mr A was reasonable, he had shown “high-risk” symptoms and should have been treated sooner.

It also said there had been an “unreasonable” delay in administering antibiotics after his con- dition deteriorated.

Gaps were also found in his medical records, post-surgery reviews and the handling of a complaint submitted by the patient’s daughter — named as Ms C — were not in line with expected standards of practice.

The SPSO concluded: “The board should apologise to Ms C for the unreasonable delay between the referral to the board and the commencement of treatment, the unreasonable care and treatment provided to Mr A (and) the unreasonable communication and poor complaints handling.”

Recommendations have also been made to ensure the incident is not repeated in future.

NHS Tayside medical director, Professor Andrew Russell (pictured), said: “We have been in contact with the patient’s family and apologised. Our thoughts remain with the family. We accept the recommendations and have taken urgent action to address them.

“As an organisation we take every opportunity to improve and we will ensure we share learning from this across Tayside.”

NHS Tayside has apologised after it was criticised by a standards watchdog over their care and handling of a man who died of cancer.

DUNDEE man Jim Irving visited Ninewells Hospital to hand over a cheque for £500 to staff in Ward 33. Jim had a stroke nine years ago when he worked at NCR and credits his then-workmate Scott Ingram’s quick reaction for saving his life. The money was...