Trust should not have discharged patient from A&E

What happened

Mr G attended A&E with nausea, vomiting and not having opened his bowels for three days. Staff diagnosed him with constipation and discharged him. Mr G was admitted to hospital the following day and surgery found that he had a complete loss of blood supply to his small bowel.

What we found

The Trust inappropriately discharged Mr G from A&E after an inadequate clinical assessment by a junior doctor. Record keeping was not robust. We found that the care and treatment Mr G received during his admission was appropriate.

Mr G's pain and his family's distress following his discharge from A&E would have been better managed by an admission, but the decision to discharge him did not affect the clinical outcome. Mr G also raised concerns about how the complaint was handled and we found a small number of shortcomings here.

Putting it right

The Trust completed an action plan to show that it has taken learning from this complaint.