SPSO (Scottish Public Services Ombudsman) Not Upheld

Lanarkshire NHS Board

201901653 · Health › clinical treatment / diagnosis · Decision date: 01 November 2019 · View NHS Lanarkshire scorecard

Full Decision

Summary

Mr C complained about the treatment which he received at A&E of University Hospital Monklands. Mr C had injured his foot and a doctor diagnosed him as having a sprained ankle. Mr C continued to suffer discomfort and attended his GP several weeks later who referred him back to the hospital. Further investigation revealed he had suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon. Mr C believed that the rupture should have been diagnosed at his initial attendance at A&E.

We took independent advice from an A&E consultant. We found that the records indicated that the doctor had carried out an appropriate examination and reached a reasonable diagnosis of a badly sprained ankle. Although it turned out that Mr C had possibly suffered a partial rupture of the Achilles tendon at the time of the attendance, the actions of the doctor in wrongly diagnosing a sprained ankle was not unreasonable in the circumstances. We did not uphold the complaint.

Related reading

View Decision Report 201901653 as a PDF (23.77 KB) Updated: November 20, 2019