Decision Report 201204870

Summary

Mrs C complained that when she was admitted to the Western General Hospital she was mistaken for another patient. She had obtained a copy of her medical records and told us that they contained references to procedures and conditions that could not have applied to her. Although the board met with her on several occasions and apologised for failings in her care, as well as providing her with an action plan of the steps taken to improve their performance, Mrs C did not believe that they had accepted or investigated her concerns that she was mistaken for another patient and about inaccuracies in her medical records.

We took independent advice on this complaint from our nursing adviser. She said that although there were clearly failings in Mrs C's care, she did not consider that the board could carry out any more meaningful actions in respect of Mrs C's complaint. The failings identified had arisen due to errors by individual members of staff, rather than through a systemic failure. The board had apologised, and taken the appropriate action to address these failings by providing training for staff members. Mrs C had met with senior board staff and her concerns had been listened to and responded to. Although we upheld Mrs C's complaint, as our investigation found that she was not provided with a reasonable level of care during her treatment, we made no recommendations as we found that the board then acted appropriately in response to her complaint.