2. Miss O complains a consultant psychiatrist at the Hospital falsely recorded her weight as 45kg instead of 38.2kg on 15 August 2008.
3. Miss O says:
• this affected her physical and mental health • she was left with no medical care, and • she was placed under a child protection order, social workers thought she had lost a dangerous amount of weight since leaving the Hospital.
4. Miss O wants the Hospital to accept the inaccurate recording of her weight was a deliberate error.
5. On 21 July 2008, Miss O was admitted to the eating disorders unit at the Hospital, weighing 33.6kg.
6. On 15 August 2008, Miss O’s father took her out of the Hospital and she did not return to finish treatment.
7. On 28 August 2008, Miss O was officially discharged from the Hospital.
8. On 5 September 2008, Miss O’s consultant psychiatrist wrote to child and adolescent mental health services informing them she weighed 45kg on discharge.
9. In September 2021, Miss O got a copy of her medical records.
11. Before we decide if we should investigate a complaint, we look at whether there are signs the organisation has got something wrong. We do this by comparing what should have happened with what did happen. We have done this and we have not seen any signs that something has gone wrong.
Weight recorded inaccurately on discharge summary
12. Miss O says she was admitted to the eating disorders unit at the Hospital on 21 July 2008, weighing 33.6kg.
13. Miss O says her father took her out of the Hospital on 15 August 2008 and she did not return. Her weight on this date was recorded as 38.2kg.
14. The Hospital confirms Miss O did not return after she left in August 2008 (she was due to return), so was not able to complete the full programme.
15. The Hospital also confirms the last entry in Miss O’s medical records was a nursing report dated 27 August 2008, which shows her weight was recorded as 38.2kg. The Hospital and Miss O agree on this.
16. Miss O says she was officially discharged as an inpatient on 28 August 2008. The Trust confirms this.
17. Miss O says the consultant psychiatrist looking after her at the time sent her discharge summary to her doctor and other health professionals and this included the inaccurate recording of her weight.
18. Miss O’s weight on the discharge summary was recorded as 45kg instead of 38.2kg. Miss O says this was to make it seem as if she had put on more weight than she had.
19. Miss O says the Hospital deliberately recorded her weight inaccurately on her discharge summary on 5 September 2008. She says falsely stating she weighed 45kg when she was discharged meant doctors thought she had lost a large amount of weight, which caused problems for her and her family.
20. Miss O says she only became aware of the inaccurate figure recorded (of 45kg) after obtaining her medical records in September 2021.
21. Miss O says she would like the Hospital to confirm the weight of 45kg on 5 September 2008 was documented incorrectly and was a deliberate error.
22. The Hospital confirms and agrees with Miss O that there is an error in the recording and reporting of her weight on the discharge summary and upholds this part of her complaint.
23. The Hospital accepts this was an mistake and apologise to Miss O in their response letter. The Hospital does not agree with Miss O this was a deliberate error and does not uphold this part of her complaint.
24. The Hospital says there is no evidence to suggest the consultant psychiatrist deliberately documented Miss O’s weight inaccurately to mislead other doctors or professionals involved in her care.
25. The Hospital says as the event happened 14 years ago, they are unable to ask the consultant psychiatrist for their account as they no longer work there.
26. We are sorry to hear of the concerns Miss O raises about the recording and reporting of her weight when she was discharged from the Hospital in 2008. We are also sorry to hear of the difficulties she has experienced since then.
27. While we understand this has been a distressing time for Miss O, we do not think we can add anything further by investigating her complaint. Although it is clear the Hospital recorded Miss O’s weight inaccurately, we cannot say for sure why this error happened. Given the amount of time which has passed since then, we would be unlikely to find this out by looking at the matter further.
28. Even in the unlikely event we were able to establish the reason for the error, we would be unable to say this has led to the injustice Miss O is claiming.
29. As Miss O says, she did not know a mistake had been made until 13 years later. For this reason, we could not say the emotional difficulties she has sadly experienced in the years since the event were linked to that error.
30. We note Miss O’s concern about an apparent lack of adequate medical care since she was discharged from the Hospital. This is a separate issue which Miss O would need to explore with her care providers. This is not something we can help her with at this stage.
31. Similarly, if Miss O feels she was unfairly placed under a child protection order, she would need to raise this with the relevant social services provider. Again, this is not something we can help her with.
32. We realise this is unlikely to be the outcome Miss O was looking for when she approached us. We are sorry to hear of her concerns and thank her for bringing them to our attention.
1. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has carefully considered Miss O’s complaint about the Priory Hospital (the Hospital). We are very sorry to hear about the circumstances which led Miss O to approach us. We recognise the stress and upset Miss O has experienced due to the matters she is complaining about.