Not duly made or withdrawn, no recommendations

Summary

Mrs C complained about the removal of harassment points from her housing application. The main outcome she sought from the investigation of her complaint was to be rehoused. During our consideration of her case, Mrs C notified us of a change in address. We contacted Mrs C and asked that she confirm if she wished to proceed with the investigation. We did not receive a response. When we advised Mrs C that the case would be closed if we did not hear from her we still did not get a response, so we closed the complaint.

Summary

Mr C complained about the care and treatment he received at Ayr Hospital's A&E department after injuring his foot several years ago. Mr C said that no fracture was detected at the time, however, when he was reviewed a short time later a fracture was found. Mr C sustained a similar injury a year later and said that a doctor had told him he would not have needed surgery had his foot been put in plaster at the time of the original injury.

We were unable to complete our investigation into Mr C's complaint and reach a decision because he did not respond to our efforts to contact him.

Summary

Mr C complained about a misdiagnosis of cancer. He said staff at Ninewells Hospital told him about three years ago that he had six to nine months to live, but then told him about a year ago that he did not have cancer. Mr C was concerned about the misdiagnosis, and that the board did not follow up to determine the correct diagnosis for his symptoms. Mr C also raised concerns about the board's handling of his complaint, as they had still not responded to him four months after he complained.

We asked the board when they would respond to his complaint, and they said they aimed to do so within three weeks. Mr C did not receive a response within this timeframe, and we began considering his complaint. However, the board then sent Mr C the final response from their investigation. We asked Mr C if he was satisfied with this response, or if he wished us to keep investigating. Mr C said he did not want us to keep investigating, and we closed our file on the complaint.

Summary

Mr C complained because he said the board failed to respond appropriately to his complaint about scheduled appointments with the pain clinic. In particular, Mr C said the board had responded to his complaint saying that there was nothing documented about planned appointments with the pain clinic. However, before receiving the board's response, Mr C said a nurse gave him a written note. The note showed that his medical record had been checked and noted that he was due to attend pain clinic appointments.

We made enquiries with the board but before finalising our investigation, Mr C was freed from prison. We tried contacting Mr C to confirm his new contact details but he did not respond to us. Therefore, we closed his complaint without reaching a finding.

Summary

Mrs C complained about the care of her daughter (Miss A) who committed suicide while she was an in-patient at Hairmyres Hospital. Mrs C raised concerns that staff did not appropriately supervise Miss A in view of her condition, and that the family were not told about a suicide attempt the day before Miss A’s death.

When we reviewed Mrs C’s complaint we found that the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service was currently investigating the circumstances of Miss A’s death. Additionally, the Child Protection Committee was also conducting a significant case review in consultation with the Mental Welfare Commission. In view of these on-going investigations by other independent organisations, we decided not to investigate Mrs C’s complaints further at this stage. We invited Mrs C to contact us again if any issues raised in her complaint were not investigated as part of these processes.

Summary

Mr C complained that his prison had inadequate arrangements for him to access documents that were held for him in the reception area. Mr C also complained about how the prison handled his complaints about this matter.

During our investigation, Mr C told us that legal action he was taking against the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) would refer to incidents when he had not been granted access to his documents, which were a key part of his complaint to us. We decided that we could not take any further action on the complaint until the legal action was concluded and then, if Mr C returned to us with this complaint, we could only look at anything that had not, or could not, have been considered in court. Therefore, we closed the file on Mr C's complaint.

Summary

Mr C complained that the council failed to carry out a full and proper investigation into the complaint he raised about the provision of a service from the social work department. It was not clear to us why the council had failed to offer Mr C the opportunity to have his complaint considered through the social work complaints process and request a complaints review committee hearing (CRC). We sought legal advice which confirmed Mr C's entitlement to request a CRC. Having obtained this advice we approached the council who agreed with our interpretation of the regulations and agreed to allow Mr C to request a CRC. As this was the proper route to have his concerns explored, we advised Mr C of this step and closed our file.

Summary

Mrs C complained to the council that the conditions of a planning application had not been fulfilled. She remained unhappy at the conclusion of the complaints procedure and brought her complaints to us. We thought that it may have been possible to resolve the matter but our attempts did not result in this. Mrs C then did not respond to our efforts to contact her, and we decided that we would not consider the matter further.

Summary

Ms C complained to the board but was unable to obtain a reply. A short time after we approached the board on her behalf, the board replied to her, and Ms C told us she therefore wished to withdraw her complaint, given that the board's reply had been very detailed and helpful.

Summary

Mrs C complained about the care and treatment she received in relation to a range of unexplained neurological (relating to the nerves and nervous system) symptoms. During our consideration of the complaint, Mrs C advised that she had decided to pursue the matter by other means. We decided, in the circumstances, and under the provisions of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Act 2002, that we would not consider the matter further.