GP and NHS trust provided poor care for broken neck

What happened

The prison GP examined Mr F and called an ambulance that took him to the local A&E department, where he had a scan. Staff thought he had a soft tissue injury and discharged him. When the doctors looked at the scan again a few days later, they saw that Mr F had broken a bone in his neck. They called him back to hospital for further treatment, which included giving him stronger painkillers.

Mr F complained about the care he had received. He said the GP's examination had been painful and made his injury worse. He also said the hospital had failed to diagnose his injury correctly and left him in severe pain.

What we found

The GP's examination and record keeping fell short of the relevant standards and the hospital should have done more to diagnose Mr F's injury, particularly because neck injuries can be very serious.

However, Mr F did not suffer long-term damage as a result of the failings. Although he has experienced pain and reduced movement in his neck, the doctors who treated him said he was healing well. There was no evidence that his problems were caused or worsened by the care he received, rather than by his original injury. When the hospital found out Mr F had broken his neck, it gave him stronger painkillers. Therefore we could say that if it had diagnosed his broken neck straight away, it would have given him stronger painkillers sooner. Mr F

was left in pain for some days because the incorrect diagnosis meant he was not given strong enough painkillers.

Putting it right

We recommended that the GP Practice should apologise to Mr F for the shortcomings in his care. We also recommended that the Trust should apologise to him and offer him £250 in compensation for the avoidable pain he had suffered for several days. Both organisations accepted our recommendations.