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Nursing staff in the Belfast Trust provided appropriate care to a patient before he underwent elective vascular surgery. However, we found it of significant concern that the Trust failed to keep records of a discussion it had with him about the surgery’s risks.

The investigation looked at the actions of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service when responding to a 999 call after the complainant’s father had suffered a stroke.

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. 

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:

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 patient was prescribed diazepam after he complained to his GP about feeling unwell. 

We asked the surgery to apologise after he was later found to have suffered five strokes in the space of a week. 

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

An Ombudsman investigation into a complaint that the Prison Healthcare team did not give a patient all of her medication during her stay at Hydebank Wood prison found 'no failures' in the patient's care and treatment.