Decision Report 201609412

Summary

Mrs C, who is an advocacy and support worker, complained on behalf of her client (Mrs A). Mrs A was unhappy about delays in getting confirmation of an appointment with a consultant ophthalmologist (a doctor who deals with injuries and conditions in and around the eye). Mrs A was also unhappy with ophthalmology advice and treatment provided to her by the board.

The board acknowledged that Mrs A's clinic appointments were cancelled on a number of occasions and they apologised to Mrs A for the inconvenience this had caused. We found that, at the time, the board did not know that Mrs A's appointments had been cancelled so many times until Mrs C complained on her behalf. We found that the board had unreasonably delayed in confirming an appointment for Mrs A with a consultant ophthalmologist, and we upheld this aspect of Mrs C's complaint. The board provided reassurance that they were taking administrative steps and had recruited staff to stop such delays happening again. Given these steps taken by the board, we made no further recommendations in relation to this.

Mrs A was given different ophthalmology advice at her most recent clinic appointment from advice she had been given before. Mrs A felt she should have been given the new advice previously. We were satisfied with the board's explanation that the latest advice given to Mrs A was not a new type of treatment, but was a variation of the standard advice given for her eye condition. We did not uphold this aspect of Mrs C's complaint.