Ombudsman rejects NHS complaint

The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) has found NHS Tayside did nothing wrong while treating a patient who died after they developed a serious infection following an emergency hip replacement.

The patient’s spouse claimed the board ignored unspecified“issues”their partner had with their stomach while prescribing antibiotics to treat the infection and kept inappropriately insisting they attend hospital appointments when their condition had become untreatable.

However the ombudsman found staff responded to the patient’s infection “appropriately”following the surgery and also“regularly reviewed”their condition in an effort to optimise their treatment.

The SPSO’s decision report on the case, which referred to the patient only as A, said: “We found A’s treatment was reasonable. They were regularly reviewed and their antibiotics were changed in order to try and improve their outcome.

“In addition, we noted that A’s condition was such that it was not unreasonable for them to have their wound dressed as an out-patient. Therefore, we did not uphold [the spouse’s] complaints.”