{"id":273989,"date":"2025-11-20T17:46:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T17:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/273989\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T17:46:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T17:46:08","slug":"scot-travelled-to-london-for-private-surgery-after-nhs-failings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/273989\/","title":{"rendered":"Scot travelled to London for private surgery after NHS ‘failings’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n In a complaint<\/a> to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO)<\/a>, C claimed that the NHS board<\/a> had \u201cfailed to reasonably investigate and\/or diagnose\u201d their symptoms, and instead sent them home.\n<\/p>\n

\n The board\u2019s gastroenterology service, which dealt with C\u2019s case, is primarily located at University Hospital Crosshouse<\/a> in Kilmarnock<\/a>.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n The patient had to travel to London for care.\n<\/p>\n

\n Following this, C was \u201cleft with no option\u201d but to travel to London,<\/a> more than 400 miles away, to obtain private care.\n<\/p>\n

\n There, they were diagnosed with mesenteric ischaemia (restricted blood flow to the intestines), which can be deadly if not treated quickly.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n C underwent private surgery to correct the ischaemia. While this improved the patient\u2019s health, it also had cost implications.\n<\/p>\n

\n After C raised a complaint, NHS Arran and Ayrshire<\/a> apologised for communication failings.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n However, they contended that all clinical decisions made were \u201cappropriate\u201d.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n However, the SPSO has now ruled that the discharge was \u201cunreasonable\u201d and ordered the board to pay for the cost of C\u2019s surgery.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n A report published in late November explains: \u201cWe took independent advice from a consultant gastroenterologist and a consultant radiologist.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe found that the board should have considered a diagnosis of mesenteric ischaemia as a strong possibility based on C\u2019s presenting symptoms. Furthermore, when a CT scan was undertaken there was a failure to report the narrowing of the blood vessels supplying the gut.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe found that the decision to discharge C from the gastroenterology service was unreasonable given their ongoing persistent symptoms and, of particular concern, their ongoing weight loss. Therefore, we upheld C\u2019s complaints.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n The board has been ordered to apologise to the patient, and to reimburse them for the cost of their private treatment, including travel to and from London.\n<\/p>\n

\n The SPSO report added: \u201cCare should be taken when discharging patients with ongoing and persistent symptoms and, in particular, who have ongoing weight loss when there is no clear explanation or diagnosis established.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhere a patient presents with postprandial abdominal pain and weight loss with no apparent cause despite extensive investigation, there should be a high index of suspicion of mesenteric ischaemia as a strong possibility being the diagnosis.\n<\/p>\n

\n Read more:\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere should be interdisciplinary working between a multi-disciplinary team (the investigating team and radiology) so as to reduce the risk of missing mesenteric ischaemia as a diagnosis and there should be a specific review for evidence of any mesenteric blood vessel atherome on CT scans carried out.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n In a statement, Jennifer Wilson, the board’s executive nurse director, said: “We are sorry that the care experienced by patient C did not reflect the high standards of care we aim to deliver in NHS Ayrshire & Arran.\n<\/p>\n

\n “The Board accepts in full the findings and recommendations of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) and will be offering a formal apology to the patient.\n<\/p>\n

\n “Work is already underway to address each of the recommendations, and we are committed to ensuring that the lessons from this report are shared across our organisation.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO), C claimed that the NHS board had \u201cfailed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-273989","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}