Summary
C complained about the treatment they received at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. They were treated for sigmoid diverticulitis (colon disease) and were prescribed antibiotics and discharged home. C continued to suffer from abdominal pains and saw their GP, who referred them back to the hospital. C then underwent surgery to resolve their symptoms.
C felt that the surgery should have been performed on the initial admittance and that it was unreasonable to discharge them home on antibiotics.
We took independent advice from an appropriately qualified adviser. We found that in the initial admission it was appropriate to treat C with antibiotics rather than proceed to surgery, which could have left C with a permanent stoma (large intestine diverted through opening on abdomen to collect waste in bag or pouch). Additionally, when C was readmitted, it was also appropriate to administer antibiotics in the first instance and it was only when C's condition deteriorated that it was appropriate to proceed to surgery. We did not uphold the complaint.
Related reading
View Decision Report 201909719 as a PDF (24.27 KB) Updated: September 23, 2020