Summary
C, a prisoner, complained about the decision by the prison health care team to discontinue their prescribed pain medication. The decision to discontinue the medication was made after C failed a medication spot check. It was recorded that C did not cooperate and C was deemed to have failed the spot check.
We took independent medical advice from a GP. We were unable to reconcile the conflicting accounts provided by C and the board regarding what happened during the spot check. We were unable to conclude that the spot check was not conducted appropriately. In the context of a failed spot check, we concluded that it was reasonable that C’s medication was discontinued. We did not uphold C’s complaint; however, we made a recommendation after we identified an issue with the board’s complaint handling.
Recommendations
What we asked the organisation to do in this case: Apologise to C that the frontline complaint response contained an inaccuracy about what they reportedly said during the spot check. The apology should meet the standards set out in the SPSO guidelines on apology available at www.spso.org.uk/information-leaflets.
We have asked the organisation to provide us with evidence that they have implemented the recommendations we have made on this case by the deadline we set.
Related reading
View Decision Report 201902441 as a PDF (25.32 KB) Updated: November 18, 2020