Decision Report 202407136

Summary

C complained about care and treatment provided to them by the board in relation to diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer. C had concerns about medical treatment both prior to and after surgery, and about nursing care when they were in hospital following surgery.

We took independent advice from a urologist and a nurse. We found that overall, medical care and treatment had been reasonable and did not uphold these aspects of C’s complaint. However, in relation to nursing care, we found that C’s needs and risks were not properly assessed, resulting in a lack of person-centred care planning and implementation. We upheld the complaint about nursing care.

Recommendations

What we asked the organisation to do in this case:

• Apologise to C for the failings in nursing care. The apology should meet the standards set out in the SPSO guidelines on apology available at www.spso.org.uk/meaningful-apologies.

What we said should change to put things right in future:

• Patients admitted to hospital should receive appropriate nursing care including complete assessments and development of person-centred care plans. These should be updated to reflect the patient’s presenting condition.

We have asked the organisation to provide us with evidence that they have implemented the recommendations we have made on this case by the deadline we set.