Mrs Y complained about delays at two outpatient clinics. She also said that comments in her records were inaccurate and should be redacted.
What happened
Mrs Y went to an allergy clinic. Staff at the clinic referred her to a dermatology clinic for patch tests to find out if she had an unidentified allergy. She said there were delays of nearly three hours at the first clinic and two hours at the second.
The Trust responded swiftly to Mrs Y's complaint about the first clinic. But although her experience at the second clinic was almost identical, staff did not explain the reason for the delay.
A doctor made a number of comments in her medical records that Mrs Y felt were inaccurate and defamatory. Mrs Y also complained about a delay in staff carrying out her patch tests and the manner in which the Trust responded to her complaint.
What we found
We partly upheld this complaint. The Trust did not explain the delays properly or outline the measures it was taking to improve patients' experience.
The Trust's complaint handling was below the standard we would expect.
We felt that the Trust had arranged for the patch tests to be carried out within a reasonable timeframe.
Putting it right
The Trust apologised to Mrs Y for its mistakes and agreed to draw up plans to prevent the same things happening again.
The Trust told Mrs Y about what it had done to improve patients' experience. It also changed her medical records in line with our recommendation.
Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust
Essex
Did not apologise properly or do enough to put things right
Apology
Taking steps to put things right