Investigation reports

We found the South Eastern Health Trust failed to consider a patient's complex medical history and inform the referring GP, or the patient's father, of the decision to downgrade her initial referral.

The Ombudsman has made a recommendation to the Northern Health and Social Care Trust to reduce the risk of a delay in the communication of results to patients, and to patients receiving results in unplanned circumstances, following an investigation into the care of a man with terminal lung cancer.

The Western Health and Social Care Trust has identified a number of learning points following an investigation into its management of a complainant's adoption application.

The Ombudsman recommended that a patient be given an apology after an investigation found he did not receive the fundamental standards of care while being treated in hospital.  Failures included the lack of records relating to the decision to admit him to an escalation bed, and a failure to record hourly observations.

The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Trust is considering suitable equipment for transporting new-born infants in ambulances after an Ombudsman's report recommended it apologise to a complainant.

A Trust’s failure to perform an examination of a patient on admission to hospital meant he was not assessed by medical staff against this baseline during his time on the ward.  The investigation also identified a number of record keeping failures by the Trust while caring for the patient.

An investigation has found that the Northern Health and Social Care Trust failed to seek a cardiology opinion in relation to a patient before deciding to discharge him from hospital.  The Ombudsman recommend that the patient be given a full written apology by the Trust Chief Executive for this failure in clinical care and treatment.