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Selected Investigations Completed April - September 1998 > Part I, Case no. E.571/96-97

Chapter 1: Hospital, Community Health and Ambulance Trusts

Case No. E.571/97-98 - Outpatient consultation unreasonably refused and dilatory handling of complaint

Matters considered: Patient unreasonably refused consultation at pacemaker clinic; failure to reply to complaint

Complaint against: Guy's & St Thomas' Hospital NHS Trust, London

Summary of case

Mr J's father, who was 98 years old, attended an appointment at the pacemaker clinic at Guy's Hospital on 4 November 1996. He was told that his name did not appear on the list of patients for that day and went home without having had a consultation. Mr J complained and on 27 November was told that an investigation into his complaint had begun. By October 1997, after four further letters, he had still not received a substantive response to his complaint.

Findings

The Ombudsman found that clinic staff were not expecting Mr J's father that day as the Trust had changed his appointment to a later date. It was not possible to ascertain whether a letter to inform him of that had been sent. Staff began to make arrangements for Mr J's father to be seen that day, but he would not wait. The Ombudsman therefore did not uphold the complaint that a consultation had been refused, though he regretted that Mr J's father had been put in such a situation. The Ombudsman described the Trust's handling of the complaint as "appalling". A reply was drafted in April 1997, but it was inaccurate and inadequate. The Ombudsman did not believe that it was sent to Mr J. By October he had still not received a reply. There was no system to ensure that senior staff were made aware of such delays so that they could take action. The Ombudsman upheld the complaint.

Remedy

The Trust apologised, and agreed to review the booking arrangements for clinics and take action to prevent such problems recurring. The Trust had already improved their monitoring of the complaints procedure and agreed to carry out a further review to ensure that complaints were dealt with thoroughly and expeditiously.

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Last updated: 12 January 2006