Ms A complained about Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board’s treatment of her son in respect of an unnecessary procedure carried out in October 2025. Ms A was concerned that the Health Board had not properly obtained consent for the procedure. It had retrospectively altered consent obtained in 2023.
The Ombudsman decided that the Health Board had provided a reasonable explanation for why it undertook a cauterisation procedure in October 2025. The Ombudsman noted that the consultant had updated the terms of the consent obtained in 2023, and signed the ‘Confirmation of Consent’ section of the consent form. However, whilst the Health Board had said it had spoken to Ms A’s son about the procedure, he had not signed the same section of the consent form. The Ombudsman was therefore concerned that consent had not been properly recorded to carry out the cauterisation procedure. The Ombudsman noted that Ms A’s son had suffered no harm as a result of the procedure.
The Ombudsman sought and gained the Health Board’s agreement to, within 2 weeks, apologise to Ms A for the error in not recording her son’s consent for the procedure.