Investigation reports

A man complained that his mother was diagnosed incorrectly by the Southern Trust and prescribed her a drug that led to her becoming confused and agitated.  We found that the overall care of the patient was excellent, but partly upheld the man’s claims that the Trust didn’t deal properly with his complaint.

The Chief Executives of three health trusts have apologised after an error in recording a patient’s date of birth led to him being confused with another patient.

Our investigation into a complaint about the Southern Health and Social Care Trust found that it did not consider all of the available information when making a child’s autism diagnosis.  We asked it to apologise to the child and her mother after appropriate intervention and support only became available following a correct diagnosis over two years later.

Our investigation found that the Southern Health and Social Care Trust communicated appropriately with a patient’s nursing home, but that it failed to organise a timely planning meeting prior to her discharge from hospital.

We investigated claims from a family that the Southern Health and Social Care Trust failed to carry out a Continuing Healthcare assessment for their father.  We upheld the complaint and concluded that the failings caused the family frustration and distress over a prolonged period.

A patient who attended Craigavon Area Hospital due to pain in his shoulder and loss of power in his right arm received an appropriate level of care, according to an investigation carried out by the Ombudsman.

Investigation concludes that observations should have been carried out and discharge delayed until patient was well enough to tolerate fluids and food.

An investigation has found that appropriate and timely intervention may have alleviated a patient's discomfort and distress in the last weeks of her life.  The Ombudsman found a number of failures by the Southern Health and Social Care Trust in relation to the patient's nutritional care and treatment, and failings with regard to some aspects of her nursing care and treatment.