Decision Report 201303409

Summary

Mr C complained that there was an unreasonable delay in the board providing care and treatment for his back pain. He told us that the board had lost a referral from his GP for orthopaedic (conditions involving the musculoskeletal system) assessment. We found that the board, in responding to Mr C's complaint, explained what went wrong, apologised for what happened, and explained that they had fixed the problem with the referral system. Given the loss of Mr C's referral and the consequent delay, however, we upheld the complaint although we did not need to make any recommendations in view of the action the board had already taken.

Mr C said that, because of the delay and his personal circumstances, he had been left with no choice but to seek private treatment, and he wanted the board to pay for this. From Mr C's description, we did not doubt that he and his family had found the situation difficult and distressing. However, because Mr C sought private treatment rather than pursuing treatment with the board, we did not know if there would have been any further significant delay in the board providing the treatment. We could not, therefore, say whether Mr C had no option but to obtain private treatment when he did. In such circumstances, we could not recommend that the board consider reimbursing Mr C for this.