Admissions/discharge and transfer procedures : Hywel Dda University Health Board

Mrs A complained to Hywel Dda University Health Board about her late mother’s discharge from hospital in July 2021. She said that there was a long time delay in the Health Board responding to her complaint and that no explanation was provided about the delay of an ambulance. Further, she said that no remedial action had been implemented for the failures identified by the Health Board, and that an apology alone was insufficient.

The Ombudsman found that the Health Board had taken some 11 months to respond to Mrs A’s complaint, and no explanation had been provided to her for the delay. In respect of the response from the ambulance service, although the Health Board had listed it as an enclosure to its complaint response, it appears that it may not have physically sent it to Mrs A. Finally, whilst the Health Board’s response did provide multiple apologies to Mrs A, it did not include detail of any action taken by the Health Board to prevent the failings identified from happening to another patient.

The Ombudsman contacted the Health Board and in resolution of Mrs A’s complaint it agreed to provide her with a copy of the response to her complaint from the ambulance service, provide her with an explanation for its prolonged response time to her complaint and offer her a financial redress payment of £250 in recognition of the delay, and provide both the Ombudsman and Mrs A with details of any remedial action already taken, or planned, to prevent the failures identified from happening again.