Decision Report 201609629

Summary

Miss C's late father (Mr A) had been admitted to Hairmyres Hospital with a suspected mini-stroke and it was decided that he required vascular surgery. However, the vascular surgery was not carried out during that admission of four days, and arrangements were made for him to return to hospital two weeks later. The re-admission date was extended by a further week due to a medical emergency concerning another patient. Mr A suffered a major stroke the day before the planned re-admission date and died before the vascular surgery could be performed. Miss C complained that there was an unreasonable delay in arranging vascular surgery for her father.

We took independent advice from an adviser in vascular surgery. We found that during the initial admission Mr A was not fit for surgery, due to his other health conditions, and that it was appropriate to postpone the vascular surgery for two weeks. When the planned surgery had to be postponed for a further week for another patient who had clinical priority, we found it was appropriate at that time to postpone it. We did not find any evidence of avoidable delays in scheduling Mr A's surgery, and as such we did not uphold the complaint.