Summary
Miss C complained that when a heart murmur (an extra or unusual sound heard during a heartbeat) was detected on the morning of pre-planned surgery she was asked to 'have a chat' with a cardiologist (heart specialist).
When she saw the cardiologist he did some tests. Miss C felt that she was misled about this. She also said that she has never been provided with the results of the tests.
We did not uphold Miss C's complaint as our investigation found that referral to the cardiologist was appropriate in the circumstances. The board also confirmed that, as is normal practice, the test results were sent to Miss C's GP. They were apparently also discussed with Miss C on the day.
Miss C was concerned that she had not yet had access to her clinical notes. At the time of our investigation, the board were in the process of arranging this. As Miss C raised the issue of accessing her records with us before she had raised it with the board, we could not take it forward.
We informed Miss C of this position and gave advice on complaining to the board. We advised her that she could advised her that she could bring her complaint to us if she was still unhappy after the board had finished looking at it.
Miss C also raised concerns about information that she felt had been withheld or was incorrect. We could not look at this issue as she could not specify what information this was.
Related reading
View Decision Report 201103508 as a PDF (17.28 KB) Updated: March 13, 2018