Apology issued over 15-month hip operation wait

The patient should have had surgery within 90 days

NHS Grampian has apologised over the case of a patient who was in urgent need of a hip replacement but only got one when a public services watchdog intervened.

The patient, known only as A, suffered from significant mobility issues and difficulties with day-to-day living.

The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) found that they were classed as a "category two" patient and should have been given surgery within 90 days.

However, it took 15 months and even then, only after the ombudsman intervened on A's behalf, after a family member raised a complaint. NHS Grampian said it accepted the SPSO's findings and was complying with the recommendations.

A's sibling, known as C, complained that NHS Grampian had failed to carry out the surgery within a reasonable time, and that no progress had been made since their pre-operation assessment appointment.

In its report, the SPSO said it took independent advice from a consultant orthopaedic surgeon.

It said: "Given A's significant mobility issues and difficulties with day-to-day living, it was unreasonable to leave their case for more than 90 days.

"We were concerned that A waited 15 months for their surgery and that the surgery only took place after intervention from this office."

The report said that although NHS Grampian apologised for the delay, the reasons given were unreasonable.

NHS Grampian apology

It found that NHS Grampian had a contract in place with another health board to provide the type of surgery A required, and said it was unreasonable that the board did not explore this.

It said the board could have looked at an out of area referral to another health board or considered using non-NHS providers.

The SPSO has told NHS Grampian to apologise and put in place a short to medium term recovery plan to prevent a similar situation happening to other patients.

A spokesperson for NHS Grampian said: "We accept the findings of this report and would like to take this opportunity to apologise once again to the family at the centre of this case.

"We are complying with the recommendations set out in the report and have a plan in place to prevent this from happening to other patients."