Poor care of a young adult with Asperger's syndrome and a depressive disorder

What happened

Mr H came under the care of the Trust in spring 2011 for his mental health. Staff prescribed a number of medications.

In winter 2012, a private psychiatrist reached a different diagnosis of Mr H's condition and changed his medication. The private psychiatrist wrote to Mr H's GP suggesting that he might have been on a dangerous combination of drugs.

What we found

We partly upheld this complaint. The Trust did not take all of Mr H's previously documented symptoms into consideration when it reached its original diagnosis. This caused distress, and led to Mrs L seeking a second opinion.

Trust staff made changes to Mr H's medications without recording or explaining the reasons for this. Although this caused distress, we did not consider that this caused any long–term problems or caused Mr H to become suicidal.

The Trust handled Mrs L's complaint poorly. Mrs L has not had any reassurance that it learnt lessons from her concerns.

Putting it right

The Trust wrote to Mrs L to acknowledge the failings we identified and the impact those failings had on her and her son. It apologised for the failings, and paid her £750 compensation.

The Trust produced an action plan to address the faults we identified.