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Case ref:201701656
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Date:July 2018
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Body:Dumfries and Galloway 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
Miss C was due to have surgery on her leg at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Hospital but this was cancelled shortly before the scheduled time. Miss C complained that the board did not carry out her surgery and that the reasons for this were not properly explained to her. While the board apologised for the confusion surrounding the decision to cancel Miss C's surgery, they felt that the decision was appropriate as it was a major operation with significant risks and she had shown some recent improvement. Miss C was unhappy with this response and brought her complaint to us.
We took independent advice from a consultant vascular surgeon. We found that it was reasonable for the operation not to have been performed, but we considered that the decision-making process surrounding this could have been clearer. We found that the entries made at the time in Miss C's medical records indicated that the reasons for not going ahead with the surgery had been explained to her. We did not uphold Miss C's complaints but provided feedback to the board regarding their decision-making process for surgery in complex cases.