NIPSO Individual Decisions

A woman complained about the care and treatment the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust provided to her daughter following spinal surgery.

The Belfast Trust failed to keep a proper record of how it responded to allegations from a whistleblower.  It should also have informed the resident’s wife of the allegations at an earlier stage.

We investigated how a patient was treated in the Royal Victoria Hospital after he suffered a cardiac arrest.  We found that the Belfast Trust carried out all observations, tests and procedures in line with the appropriate policies and guidelines.

The mother of a nine-year old boy who tragically passed away following treatment for a rare form of leukaemia complained about the treatment he received in hospital.

Nursing staff in the Belfast Trust should have referred a patient to doctors after they noticed possible signs of a stroke.

A man complained that an injection in his lower back left him in severe constant pain. We found that the Northern Trust carried out the procedure properly, but did not fully explain to the man that it may lead to his symptoms worsening.

We found the Belfast Trust was right to encourage a patient with cystic fibrosis to persevere with its chosen course of treatment, but criticised a lack of community dietetic support which left her at potential risk of harm.

A man questioned why medicine ordered from Scotland to treat his sick wife took two weeks to arrive.  We found that the Belfast Trust’s efforts to procure and transport the medicine were reasonable and appropriate.

A woman complained that hospital delays contributed to her mother’s early death. We found a number of failings in her care and treatment.

A woman complained about the care her elderly mother received over a 10 day period in the Mater Hospital. We upheld parts of the complaint, including over how the hospital dealt with an incident in which the patient was in an agitated state, and the way it managed her food intake.  We found no failings over the complaints relating to sedation, toileting, and the patient's access to fluids.

The quality of care given to a young person with complex medical needs deteriorated when she turned 18. We criticised the Belfast Trust for not doing enough to prepare for her transition to adult care, noting with concern the lack of overall policies for managing this process.

We found that a woman was cared for appropriately in the Maternity Unit of the Royal Victoria Hospital, but said that clinicians should have recorded the discussions they had with her about the progress of her labour.

We asked the Belfast Trust to apologise to a man for taking 10 months to complete a criminal record check, thereby delaying his application to look after his grandchildren.

We found that the Belfast Trust did not properly assess a man’s healthcare needs before his admission to a nursing home. We asked it to apologise to the complainant and to review all applications for continuing healthcare from the last three years.

We made recommendations for service improvement after we found failings in the way the Belfast Trust investigated the theft of a care home resident’s wedding ring.

We made a number of recommendations to the Belfast Trust after we found failures in the way it treated a patient with a fractured leg. We concluded that delays in removing her leg cast and in monitoring her pressure sores caused sepsis and contributed significantly towards her premature death.

A man whose son lived in supported housing complained about the care provided by the Belfast Trust. We upheld his complaint.

Our investigation found failings in the care and treatment provided to a cancer patient by the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust.

The Belfast Health Trust has apologised to a man after our investigation found failures in the care of his late wife.

We found that the Trust should have retested a patient for COVID when it found her previous sample had not been processed.

Belfast Health and Social Care Trust cared appropriately for a cancer patient and communicated properly with her family during her treatment.

A patient was in pain for longer than necessary because of delays by the Belfast Trust to obtain the results of a private MRI scan.

The Belfast Trust has put in place new procedures for carrying out pre-operative assessments after we partially upheld a man’s complaint.

We asked the Belfast Trust to make service improvements after investigating a man’s complaint that his wife’s brain tumour should have been diagnosed earlier.

A woman experienced worry, uncertainty, and frustration because her concerns about being fitted with a pacemaker were not properly addressed by the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust.