The partner of a dying patient who was prevented from getting pain relieving medication has had a complaint against an Ayrshire medical practice upheld.
The complaint came about as a result of the end of life care provided to the complainer’s spouse by an Ayrshire medical practice.
The case was investigated by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman in March, one of three complaints upheld against health services in Ayrshire this month.
The patient, who was not identified, had ‘Lewy’ body dementia, which affected their movement, thinking, moods, memory and behavior, and received care from their spouse at home.
The patient’s partner said that the practice GP failed to visit the patient despite their condition deteriorating.
They also complained that there had been a delay in initiating their end of life care plan, which would have allowed access to pain relieving medication and to the community palliative care.
The practice admitted there was no home visit, but insisted doctors had been in constant contact with the district nursing team about their care and medication.
The Ombudsman said: “We found that the practice had not provided a reasonable standard of end of life care.”
The practice should have carried out an earlier assessment of palliative and end of life needs, the investigation found.
It added that there was an ‘unreasonable delay’ in providing pain relieving medication, and noted that staff ‘lacked awareness of the community palliative care team and the referral process’.
The medical practice was ordered to apologise and ensure the failures are not repeated.
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