Mr A complained about the standard of care provided to him in relation to the diagnosis and management of his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and whether it was clinically appropriate. He was also dissatisfied with the issues raised by a letter that he had received from a psychiatrist about the shortage of ADHD medication.
The Ombudsman’s investigation found shortcomings in the management of Mr A’s care including around communication and documentation. In addition, complaint handling was not as robust as it could have been. The Ombudsman concluded that as a result of the failings identified there was a missed opportunity for Mr A to have been seen sooner than in fact occurred.
The Health Board agreed as part of a settlement to write and apologise to Mr A for the shortcomings identified and to reimburse the costs he had incurred in terms of his private ADHD medication. In terms of its complaint handling, the Health Board also agreed to make a time and trouble payment of £150. As part of learning lessons, the Health Board agreed to review the robustness of its decision-making process, to audit a sample of cases where a clinical decision had previously been made that there was insufficient evidence for an ADHD review/assessment and to share its findings, together with an action plan if failings are identified, with the Ombudsman’s office. Finally, the Health Board was asked to implement national guidance to improve a patient’s experience of care within its mental health service and to develop audit tools to help monitor and embed this.