Ombudsman orders apology

NHS Tayside has been ordered to apologise to a patient after he was not kept fully informed during diagnosis.

The patient had complained that staff at Ninewells Hospital had not considered a diagnosis of brugada syndrome during testing, however, this was rejected by The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO).

The SPSO found failings and recommended that staff ensure that, in similar cases, patients are fully informed about their diagnosis.

The patient, named as Mr C, had been experiencing fainting episodes and was not diagnosed with brugada syndrome until he later moved to another hospital.

A scheduled ajmaline challenge (used to test for brugada syndrome) did not go ahead after he suffered further fainting episodes. Mr C was diagnosed with vasovagal syncope.

The SPSO report states: “We considered that from the various tests carried out there was no evidence to support a diagnosis of brugada syndrome. We found that it was reasonable for staff to diagnose Mr C with vasovagal syncope and not to have rescheduled the ajmaline challenge.

“We did not uphold the complaint. However, we were critical of the time it took the board to investigate Mr C’s fainting episodes.

“We also found that there was no evidence to clearly show that Mr C’s diagnosis and the reasons for not rescheduling the ajmaline challenge had been fully explained to him.”