Health board apology after diagnosis delay

Ombudsman critical of ‘unreasonable’ timescale

NHS Tayside says it has apologised to a woman whose complaint about a surgeon she saw at Perth Royal Infirmary was upheld by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO).

The watchdog said in a report the surgeon should have examined the woman while she was at an outpatient clinic and his or her failure to do so contributed to an “unreasonable” delay in diagnosing she had diverticulitis ( a digestive condition).

It revealed the woman, identified only as Mrs C in its report, went to the clinic shortly after she was discharged from Ninewells Hospital in Dundee where the Ombudsman also believes if staff had done a certain scan she could have been diagnosed a lot sooner.

The SPSO also said it was “critical” of the length of time it took staff at Ninewells to relay the results of a scan they did to the surgeon at Perth Royal Infirmary and further found a letter sent to the surgeon failed to mention the woman had been admitted to hospital.

“We found that a computer tomography (CT) scan should have been carried out rather than an magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan because it would have provided a more complete examination of Mrs C’s abdomen and pelvis,” the SPSO’s report said.

“In addition, we considered that a CT scan should have been performed within a few days after Mrs C’s discharge from Ninewells Hospital. We were also critical of the length of time it took for staff at Ninewells Hospital to contact the consultant surgeon at Perth Royal Infirmary to inform them about the results of the MRI scan.

“We also found that the letter to the consultant surgeon had not referred to Mrs C’s earlier hospital admission.

“In terms of the clinic appointment at Perth Royal Infirmary, we considered that the consultant surgeon should have examined Mrs C given there was no evidence of her symptoms having settled.

“We considered that the time taken to diagnose diverticulitis was unreasonable and upheld this aspect of Mrs C’s complaint.”

In addition to asking NHS Tayside to apologise to the woman the SPSO has also said it needs to ensure its staff perform urgent CT scanning when this is recommended in future and ensure its staff always communicate with other specialities in a “timely and appropriate” manner.

A spokesperson for NHS Tayside said: “We have apologised to the patient and are working to address the recommendations in the report.”