Mr S complained that his wife had been left waiting for further knee surgery following her first surgery in May 2022. He further complained that the timescales promised by the Hywel Dda University Health Board had been missed and that he and his wife had not been kept updated.
The Ombudsman decided that although the Health Board had responded to Mr S’s concerns verbally, it had failed to provide him with a formal response under its statutory complaint’s procedure. She said this caused frustration to Mr S.
As an alternative to an investigation, the Ombudsman sought and gained the Health Board’s agreement to provide Mr S with an apology for the delay in formally responding and issue a formal response within 30 working days.