Lengthy wait for response to complaint about delayed operation

What happened

In November 2013 Mrs S had surgery to remove part of her colon. She was left with a temporary stoma (where the small intestine is diverted through an opening in the abdomen). She spent several days in hospital recovering before being discharged home.

Mrs S's second operation, to reverse (close up) the stoma, was scheduled for late January 2014 but was cancelled. The Trust explained this was due to a shortage of nursing staff, which resulted in the temporary closure of two wards and the cancellation of all planned surgery for patients needing inpatient care.

Mrs S's surgery was rearranged at another hospital. But the surgeon was taken ill on the day and her surgery was cancelled again. Mrs S finally had her surgery in February.

Mrs S complained that she was not given appropriate pain relief after both operations and her intravenous fluids were left to run dry after the first operation. She also complained that the operation to close up the stoma had been cancelled twice.

Mrs S later complained that her wound dressings were not attended to appropriately after the second operation, she was not given appropriate pain relief and she was given codeine and tramadol together. She was also unhappy about the time the Trust took to reply to her complaint.

What we found

We partly upheld Mrs S's complaint.

There were unavoidable reasons for cancelling Mrs S's reversal surgery. This was unfortunate and upsetting for her but waiting until February 2014 (three months after her first operation) for surgery had no negative impact on her clinical condition.

The care and treatment the Trust gave Mrs S during her two admissions was satisfactory. Staff did give her tramadol and codeine at the same time, which was not in line with established good practice. However, this would not have led to a significant detrimental effect on Mrs S's condition or caused any long‑term side effects.

As for the Trust's handling of Mrs S's complaint, it took around seven months to reply. This was unreasonably long and caused Mrs S some frustration.

Putting it right

The Trust had already apologised to Mrs S for the delay replying to her complaint. It told Mrs S about the steps it planned to take to make sure that it responds to complaints in good time.