The Western Trust’s failure to give a patient an MRI test caused her to experience prolonged pain and unnecessarily delayed treatment of her endometriosis.
This investigation found that the system for communicating with patients on healthcare waiting lists is in ‘disarray’, and concluded that significant and repeated failures across the system amounted to ‘systemic maladministration’.
It urged the Department of Health to work with Health Trusts, GPs and others to address the failings.
We recommended that a healthcare provider review its policies and improve staff training after we investigated the care it provided to a complainant’s elderly mother.