Last week, it emerged that patients suffered unnecessarily as a result of failings in vascular services in the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.
A report by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) of England reviewed the case records of 44 patients who were under the care of vascular services across North Wales. You can read the full report below.
The report found serious deficiencies in some patients' care as well as issues with record keeping, consent-taking, communication between clinicians, and documentation. The findings from the report included:
- An amputee needing to be 'carried to the toilet' by his wife after being discharged without a care plan.
- A patient being given an 'unnecessary and futile' amputation when 'palliation and conservative therapy should have been considered instead'. The report states that the risk from major amputation for the patient was 'extremely high';
- Clinicians 'possibly working outside the limits of their competence'
- In seven cases clinical records did not include patient outcomes while in six cases there were no clinical records available for the review team to assess.
The report states: "The review team were strongly of the opinion that the majority of the surgical notes and supporting correspondence, results and reports were disorganised, illegible and incomplete."
This report adds to the evidence gathered as part of my healthcare campaign that healthcare services across our region need improving. It is important that the Welsh Government and the health board listens to these concerns and takes action to prevent these failings from happening again.
To send the Welsh Government a message that healthcare in Wrexham needs improving, sign my campaign below.