Mr A complained about Aneurin Bevan University Health Board’s (“the Health Board’s”) complaint handling. Specifically, that the Health Board failed to proceed to Part 6 under the Putting Things Right (PTR) Regulations, the process for raising concerns or complaints in NHS Wales, before determining whether a qualifying liability existed.
The evidence suggested that the Health Board had acted in accordance with PTR when considering the complaint. However, the Ombudsman was mostly concerned about information omitted from the final PTR response and the standard of communication. The Ombudsman decided to settle the complaint.
He sought the Health Board’s agreement to, within 1 month, provide a full explanation about qualifying liability, apologise for the failure to provide this information sooner and to respond to correspondence in a timely way, and to review its complaints handling, based on the shortcomings that had been identified.