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Case ref:201403620
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Date:March 2015
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Body:Highland NHS Board
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Sector:Health
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Outcome:Not upheld, no recommendations
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Subject:clinical treatment / diagnosis
Summary
Mr C complained that the board failed to diagnose his condition properly when he attended an out-of-hours (OOH) service at Raigmore Hospital. Mr C was diagnosed with a viral infection, and he was discharged. A few days later, however, he became very unwell and was admitted to hospital where he was later diagnosed with legionnaires' disease.
Mr C said that the OOH service should have considered this as a possible diagnosis, particularly as he had mentioned recent travel abroad. We took independent advice from one of our medical advisers, who is a GP. The adviser said that the examination of Mr C was thorough and well recorded. The adviser also reviewed the Health Protection Scotland (a government body that monitors infectious and environmental hazards) website, and noted that at the time of Mr C's admittance there were no notifications of increased incidents of legionella (the bacteria that causes legionnaires' disease) in the location Mr C had visited. Therefore, no alert would have been sent to GPs and OOH services to increase vigilance for the condition.
We, therefore, concluded that in light of the symptoms Mr C presented with at the time, he was provided with a reasonable diagnosis.