Ms L complained about the overall standard of maternity care she received at Prince Charles Hospital(“the Hospital”) on 3 separate occasions in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
The Ombudsman’s investigation found that in its complaint response, Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board (“the Health Board”) appropriately apologised and offered an acceptable amount of financial redress to Ms L following her first visit to the Hospital in 2017 (which she refused). The Ombudsman invited the Health Board to extend the financial offer again as this would have been the amount of money he would have recommended had he upheld this part of Ms L’s complaint.
The Ombudsman was satisfied with the overall care afforded to Ms L in 2018 and 2019. Where failures had been identified by the Health Board in its complaint response, the Ombudsman was satisfied with the actions it had taken to address the failures and concluded that no further action was required.
However, the Ombudsman was concerned about the very few references in Ms L’s medical records that noted her high BMI levels. Despite the greater risks associated with a high BMI level, an appropriate antenatal plan had not been created for Ms L to reflect her situation. Whilst this did not cause Ms L any harm, the Ombudsman invited the Health Board to consider his comments and provide him with details of what it does now in terms of its planning of care for women with high BMI level in pregnancy. The Health Board agreed to this. The Ombudsman did not uphold the complaint.