Unreasonable delay in treating broken arm

What happened

Mr S fell from his motorcycle and was taken to A&E at the Trust with a suspected broken arm. The Trust referred him to a fracture clinic but it took 18 days before he had corrective surgery.

Mrs S complained about several aspects of her husband's care, particularly the delay in surgery. Mr S wanted to know if his arm would have healed sooner if he had been seen and operated on earlier. He also wanted a payment for the pain and distress caused by the delay.

What we found

We partly upheld this complaint. The Trust reasonably addressed concerns about Mr S's general care but we found that there was an unreasonable delay until he received surgery for his injury. The Trust explained the measures put in place to avoid a something like this happening again but did not reasonably address the consequences of that delay for Mr S.

Putting it right

The Trust apologised for the delay in surgery and paid Mr S £350 in recognition of the additional pain and distress he suffered as a result of that delay.