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Case ref:201503311
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Date:March 2016
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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
Ms C, who works for an advice agency, complained on behalf of Ms A about treatment she had received from the medical practice. Ms A has chronic psoriasis (a long-term, recurring skin disease, which causes sore or itchy patches of skin) on her hands and feet. She sought treatment for this at her practice but continued to suffer symptoms. Following a visit from a district nurse, Ms A was referred to a podiatrist (a clinician who diagnoses and treats abnormalities in the lower limbs). Ms C complained about the delay in Ms A being referred to a podiatrist.
We took independent advice from a GP adviser. The adviser said that the practice had made appropriate investigations into Ms A's condition and recommended reasonable treatments. As the psoriasis affected Ms A's hands as well as her feet, they did not believe a referral to a podiatrist was appropriate at that time. For this reason, we did not uphold the complaint.