Wednesday 21 October: Complaint form offline

The supplier of our case management system has confirmed that they are experiencing a significant technical issue.

At present, we have no access to the case management system and we are currently unable to provide updates on existing cases.

We are planning on the basis that this could continue for a period of time including for the remainder of this week.

If you would like to check if your complaint is ready for the SPSO or enquire about making a new complaint, please complete our Complaint Checker.  

Please be assured we are doing all we can and will provide updates on our website. 

For an all service update: Service update | SPSO

Decision Report 201305451

  • Case ref:
    201305451
  • Date:
    August 2014
  • Body:
    Lothian NHS Board
  • Sector:
    Health
  • Outcome:
    Not upheld, no recommendations
  • Subject:
    clinical treatment / diagnosis

Summary

Mr C, who is a prisoner, complained that prison doctors refused to prescribe him tramadol for his back pain. He said he had previously been prescribed this by his community GP. The prison doctors prescribed alternative medication, which Mr C said was not effective in controlling his pain.

We took independent advice on this complaint from one of our medical advisers, who is a GP. He told us that strong opiates (morphine related drugs) like high dose tramadol should only ever be used on a short term basis for lower back pain. He noted that the recent re-classification of tramadol to a higher category reflected the concerns that doctors have had for some time about the drug, its potential side effects and its potential to be abused. In the circumstances, he considered that the prison doctors had acted reasonably in offering Mr C alternatives to tramadol. We accepted this advice and did not uphold the complaint.

Related reading

Updated: March 13, 2018