Adult Mental Health : Aneurin Bevan University Health Board

Ms D complained about the care that she had received from Aneurin Bevan University Health Board. She said that one of the Health Board’s Community Mental Health Teams (“the CMHT”) had failed to assess her psychological condition properly, to diagnose her as having complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD – a mental health condition that can be caused by exposure to horrific or distressing events that are repeated) and to prescribe appropriate treatment for her.

The Ombudsman noted that the CMHT could have obtained more information about domestic abuse that Ms D had reported when it assessed her. She also observed that it would have been appropriate for the Consultant Psychiatrist involved to have recorded a comment about Ms D’s diagnosis during this assessment. However, she did not find that the CMHT had failed to assess Ms D’s psychological condition properly. She did not consider it possible to determine that Ms D had had C-PTSD when the CMHT assessed her. She found that the treatment prescribed for Ms D by the CMHT had been reasonable. She did not uphold Ms D’s complaint.