NHS Highland told to apologise following care failings ruling by Scottish Public Services Ombudsman after complaint by relative of dead patient
Health chiefs at NHS Highland have been ordered to apologise over the nursing care given to a patient who later died in hospital.
Relatives of the patient, named only as 'A', complained to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) over the "nursing care and treatment" provided to their loved on in hospital following orthopaedic surgery.
The SPSO heard that 'A' received nursing care in hospital before being transferred to another hospital for their rehabilitation, where they subsequently died. The report does not say if the care in any way contributed to their death.
Following the transfer to the second hospital patient 'A' was found to have a large wound on their foot - understood to be an ulcer - and their relative, referred to only as 'C' complained that it had been unreasonable to transfer them to the second hospital while they had this injury.
A spokesperson for the SPSO said: "We found that the wound care management that 'A' received was unreasonable. We also found that it was unreasonable for the board to transfer 'A' to another hospital without documenting this on the transfer document and without an adequate wound care management plan in place.
"We therefore upheld these complaints, although we found that the board had subsequently taken action to support improvement with regards to care rounding and pressure ulcer prevention."
Following this ruling, the SPSO has asked NHS Highland to apologise to 'C' for the failings it had identified.
It also told NHS Highland to ensure "adequate wound healing management plans should be in place for staff to follow prior to transferring patients to community hospitals".
It has asked NHS Highland to provide evidence that it has implemented these recommendations.
