Trust could not find a CT scan referred to in its response

What happened

Mr A underwent a successful kidney removal. He was then in hospital for five more days.

He said he was not given adequate pain relief or protein drinks. He said he developed constipation, which was not treated adequately, and that this led him to develop bowel problems (diverticular disease).

The Trust said that CT scans done pre and postoperatively showed that Mr A had mild diverticulosis that had not worsened and which had not arisen because of his constipation. It apologised for the lack of protein drinks and explained how it had treated Mr A's pain and constipation.

What we found

The management of Mr A's pain and constipation was reasonable. We could not say that his postoperative treatment had caused his subsequent bowel problems.

We could only consider the preoperative CT scan (which showed mild diverticular disease) as the Trust was unable to provide the postoperative CT scan (or a report on it), even though it had referred to this in its response.

This left Mr A unable to have an independent view of the response, which was clearly frustrating.

We also felt the Trust had not taken enough action to make sure staff gave patients their high energy drinks.

Putting it right

The Trust agreed to apologise to Mr A for being unable to provide the scan, and pay him £200. It also agreed to take steps to make sure patients get their high energy drinks.