Trust failed to properly manage patient's pain, and gave incorrect information in complaint response

What happened

Mr T was admitted to hospital with back pain while the Trust managed his pain and planned his treatment.

Mr T complained that the Trust did not properly manage his pain during his whole admission, and that it falsified his records and gave wrong information in the complaint response.

What we found

The Trust did not give proper pain relief for a short period of time. The rest of the time it tried to the best of its ability to manage Mr T's pain, but it had not been possible to eradicate it. We found that the Trust had properly admitted the failings and had apologised, but had not explained what action it would take to prevent the same thing happening again.

We found no evidence the Trust falsified Mr T's records, but we found that it had mixed up two different hospital attendances and so gave wrong information in the complaint response.

Putting it right

The Trust accepted our findings and drew up an action plan that showed how it would stop something similar happening again. The Trust also apologised to Mr T for giving incorrect information in its complaint response.