NIPSO Individual Decisions

The Southern Trust apologised after the temporary stent, which should have been removed after 30 days, remained in place for 18 months.

A care home did not follow contemporary guidance on allowing visitors over a 5-day period in March 2020.

The Southern Trust should have kept an elderly patient in hospital for further observation, but our investigation found that the failings did not contribute to his death.

The Southern Trust failed to appropriately triage a referral from a patient's GP.  It also did not tell the patient or her GP of its decision to downgrade the referral from urgent to routine.

The Southern Trust followed the appropriate procedures when it worked out a resident’s contribution to the cost of her care.

A woman who was 33 weeks pregnant was admitted to Craigavon Area Hospital with severe abdominal pains. Our investigation found that had an emergency caesarean section been carried out it is likely her baby would have survived.

The Southern Trust should have carried out further tests on a patient to see if she was suitable for hip surgery.

A complainant raised concerns about how the Southern Trust cared for her vulnerable sister. Our investigation found a number of failings by the Trust.

A man with Crohn’s Disease asked the Southern Trust to provide him with an additional bedroom and bathroom. We found the Trust’s decision to only approve a new bathroom was appropriate.

A woman complained about the Southern Trust’s decision to make her late sister’s estate liable for unpaid nursing costs.

Our investigation found that the communication between clinicians caring for a patient in Craigavon Area Hospital was inadequate, and that a series of other failures contributed towards his untimely death.

We found failures in the care provided by the Southern Trust to an elderly woman and her daughter.

A man said that his partner could have avoided emergency surgery had she received better treatment from the Southern Health and Social Care Trust. We did not uphold the complaint.

We found that the care provided by Craigavon Area Hospital to a woman and her new born baby was appropriate, but upheld the complaint that they were discharged prematurely.

A woman complained that her late husband was not treated properly for pain and swelling in his leg.  We found he was appropriately looked after in the Emergency Department of Craigavon Area Hospital, but were concerned that medical staff did not record discussions they had with him about his care.

A man said it was unfair that deductions were made from payments he received towards the cost of his daughter’s respite care.

We upheld a complaint about how the Southern Health Trust carried out an investigation into the death of a patient with lung cancer.

A woman who feared she had cancer complained that the Southern Health Trust should have operated to remove her womb.  Our investigation found no failures by the Trust.

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.

We investigated a complaint that the Belfast Trust failed to identify and treat a physical cause for a patient's symptoms which developed after surgery to remove her thyroid.

A complainant believed that the surgery she received in Craigavon Area Hospital caused her injury and led to ongoing symptoms which were not properly treated.

We found that a patient’s care whilst in hospital for a hip replacement was appropriate, but identified failings to assess their mental capacity.

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.