After a minor operation, Mr B's wound became infected. Failings in his postoperative care meant that the wound took longer to heal than it would have otherwise.
What happened
Staff at a surgery centre run by Clinicenta, part of Carillion PLC Health Services, removed a cyst from Mr B's foot. When they took the stitches out, the wound had become infected. Staff re-dressed the wound and gave Mr B antibiotics, but he wasn't reviewed by a doctor.
Mr B returned to the surgery centre three more times, but although staff dressed his wound, he still did not see a doctor. Just over a week later, Mr B needed to be admitted to hospital for three days to treat the infection and it took a number of weeks (during which time his care was taken over by his GP) before the wound healed fully. This meant he had to take additional time off work.
Mr B complained to the surgery centre but was unhappy with the outcome and contacted us.
What we found
There was no evidence that Mr B's infection was the result of any failings during or after the operation, or when he was initially discharged. However, the lack of observations and medical follow up immediately after staff took out Mr B's stitches, and for the following week, probably contributed to the delay in the wound healing.
Putting it right
We recommended that Clinicenta apologise to Mr B for the failings we identified. We also recommended that it pay £350 in partial recognition of the additional time Mr B missed from work.
Carillion PLC Health Services (Clinicenta Ltd)
Hertfordshire
Did not apologise properly or do enough to put things right
Apology
Compensation for non-financial loss