Lady with abdominal pain caused by cancer received poor care

What happened

Mrs A went to the hospital's A&E department twice with abdominal pain. On both occasions, the hospital did not admit her, did not perform a CT scan (CT scans take images of the inside of the body), did not diagnose her colon cancer, and discharged her.

Soon after, Mrs A went to her GP Practice. The GP she saw did not take her pulse and blood pressure, and did not listen to her bowel. Mrs A went to hospital the next day and was diagnosed with colon cancer. The hospital promptly and effectively treated this.

Mrs A complained to the Primary Care Trust (PCT) about the care she received from the hospital and her GP Practice. In response, the PCT said that the care Mrs A had received was appropriate.

What we found

We partly upheld this complaint. The hospital's decision to discharge Mrs A after her first visit was appropriate. However, on her second visit to A&E, the hospital should have carried out a CT scan of Mrs A's abdomen and diagnosed her with colon cancer. If the hospital had done these things, Mrs A would have been spared a lot of pain.

The GP who saw Mrs A after her A&E visits should have taken her pulse and blood pressure and listened to her bowel. However, we cannot now say whether this would have led the GP to refer her to hospital.

The PCT's conclusion, that Mrs A had received appropriate care from her GP Practice and the hospital, was unreasonable.

Putting it right

The hospital and the GP Practice acknowledged the errors in their care and apologised for the effect these had on Mrs A.

The hospital and the GP Practice both agreed to take action to make sure that they learn from these errors.

NHS England Local Area Team, which took over the responsibilities of the PCT, acknowledged errors in the PCT's complaint handling and apologised for the effect this had on Mrs A.

In addition, the hospital paid Mrs A £700 in recognition of the unnecessary pain she suffered as a result of its errors.