Decision Report 201603112

Summary

Mr C complained about the care and treatment provided to him by the board in relation to a hip replacement procedure he had undergone at Borders General Hospital. Specifically, Mr C complained that during the operation, board staff had failed to correctly place the replacement, which resulted in several years of pain and a further operation to correct the replacement. Mr C also complained that there were unreasonable delays in investigating the cause of his ongoing pain after the original hip replacement surgery.

During our investigation we took independent advice from a consultant orthopaedic surgeon. We found that there was no evidence to suggest that Mr C's hip replacement had been incorrectly placed at the first operation. Therefore we did not uphold this aspect of Mr C's complaint. Additionally, whilst we recognised the long time that Mr C was in pain for and the many appointments he had with orthopaedic services, we found that appropriate tests and investigations were carried out at each stage and opinions of other clinicians were sought. We did not uphold this aspect of Mr C's complaint.

Mr C further complained that the board failed to address all of the issues he raised in his complaint to them. On review of the complaints documentation, we found that the board had provided Mr C with a thorough response to his complaint and that they had provided further clarification both verbally and in a letter when Mr C requested this. Therefore, we did not uphold this aspect of Mr C's complaint.