Decision Report 201705682

Summary

Mr C noticed a lump in his chest and he was concerned that it was related to a previous abscess (a painful swelling caused by a build-up of pus) he had suffered with. His GP referred him to Hairmyres Hospital for a scan, where it was found that he had an abscess in the fat under the skin that was unlikely to be tracking elsewhere in his body. Mr C had a procedure to have this abscess drained at the hospital and afterwards he began to feel very unwell. He attended a private hospital and was found to have a very large, deeper abscess that was spreading down under his liver and pushing up to his chest. Mr C complained that the board had unreasonably failed to diagose and treat this abscess.

We took independent advice from a consultant vascular and general surgeon. We found that Mr C's condition was appropriately assessed and investigated when he attended the hospital. The adviser explained that the scan that had been taken did not show any deeper abscess. We noted that Mr C did not have symptoms that suggested a larger, deeper abscess. We found that, although Mr  C would have had the larger, deeper abscess when he attended the hospital, the failure to diagnose was not unreasonable. We did not uphold Mr C's complaint.