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A woman complained about the care her late husband received in hospital during his treatment for cancer.

We recommended that the Northern Health Trust apologise to a complainant after our investigation found failings in the care and treatment of her baby son and its handling of a Serious Adverse Incident (SAI) investigation.

A complainant raised concerns about the Education Authority’s failure to investigate a potential child protection concern regarding her son.

The Northern Trust failed to provide a patient with a nutritional care plan during his time in hospital.  We also found that it should have contacted his family to discuss arrangements for a DNACPR. 

The Southern Trust should have carried out further tests on a patient to see if she was suitable for hip surgery. 

We found that a patient with fibromyalgia was treated appropriately by the Northern Trust.

Although the Trust failed to keep proper records of her treatment, we did not consider this impacted on her care.

Shared decision making in a healthcare setting is about involving patients and their families in decisions about their clinical care.  

Not only does this foster a more compassionate, effective healthcare service, it is vital for patient safety.  By listening to and working with patients, a service is more likely to understand and meet their needs, and be responsive when safety problems are raised.

We often receive complaints from patients and their families that they should have had more involvement in their care. Click on the headings to read summaries of some of our investigations into these complaints:

We found that a pre-admission assessment for a care home resident did not accurately record her mobility, meaning that the home was ill-prepared for her arrival.

The Belfast Trust told a woman it would not assess her son for ADHD until he was six years old. 

We found the Trust should have explained its reasons for not doing so more clearly, but acknowledged its timescale was a symptom of the wider demands currently placed on the health service. 

A complainant believed that the surgery she received in Craigavon Area Hospital caused her injury and led to ongoing symptoms which were not properly treated.