An unreasonable delay in responding to concerns about cataract operation

What happened

Mr V had surgery at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (the first Trust) to remove a cataract from one eye. He suffered a dropped nucleus, an unfortunate but recognised complication that meant he needed specialist care.

The first Trust transferred Mr V to Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust (the second Trust) the same day. He had to wait several days before he could be treated because his eye was hazy and needed stabilising. He had surgery to remove the cataract but clinicians found bleeding in his eye. After a review, staff discovered that he had a detached retina. He had treatment to try to correct this, but sadly he began to lose sight in this eye.

Mr V complained to the first Trust and waited a number of months for a response. He was dissatisfied with the eventual explanation and asked for a meeting with the Trust. The Trust did not arrange this until almost a year later because of staff availability problems and poor complaint handling.

The second Trust responded to Mr V's complaint promptly. However, neither Trust could fully explain to Mr V where things had gone wrong, so he came to us.

What we found

There were no failings in the clinical care that Mr V received from either Trust, though we identified shortcomings in the first Trust's consent process. The first Trust did not handle Mr V's complaint well and there were considerable delays.

We did not uphold any part of the complaint about the second Trust.

Putting it right

We gave Mr V a clear explanation of what had happened. The first Trust apologised to Mr V for failings in its consent process and complaint handling and agreed to draw up plans to improve these aspects of its service.