Investigation reports

We partially upheld a complaint that a patient contracted sepsis because he was released too early from Antrim Area Hospital.  We asked the hospital to apologise for its failings, and to review its procedures on discharge of patients from the ward in question.

We recommended that the Northern Health & Social Care Trust, either individually or collectively with others, put in place the necessary arrangements for it to appropriately assess all future requests for Continuing Healthcare.

We recommended that the Northern Health Trust apologise to a complainant after our investigation found failings in the care and treatment of her baby son and its handling of a Serious Adverse Incident (SAI) investigation.

The Ombudsman has found that a patient who was treated in Antrim Area Hospital A&E department should have had her pain score taken on her initial assessment and assessed at regular intervals.  However, the investigation also found that on the basis of the symptoms an x-ray and treatment with painkillers was appropriate.

The Ombudsman has made a recommendation to the Northern Health and Social Care Trust to reduce the risk of a delay in the communication of results to patients, and to patients receiving results in unplanned circumstances, following an investigation into the care of a man with terminal lung cancer.

An investigation has found that the Northern Health and Social Care Trust failed to seek a cardiology opinion in relation to a patient before deciding to discharge him from hospital.  The Ombudsman recommend that the patient be given a full written apology by the Trust Chief Executive for this failure in clinical care and treatment.

An investigation by the Public Services Ombudsman has found that the Northern Health and Social Care Trust did not properly monitor a patient’s food and drink intake during her stay in the Antrim Area Hospital.

An investigation has found that the Northern Health and Social Care Trust failed to provide adequate care and treatment to a patient who died of multiple organ failure in the Causeway Hospital, Coleraine on 26 September 2015.