Mrs A complained about a safeguarding referral made by her son’s Health Visitor. Mrs A said that the referral was without justification as the Health Visitor had failed to check her son’s records and should have referred them to the GP in the first instance. Mrs A was dissatisfied with the Health Board’s complaint response, which contained conflicting information and did not address her concerns.
The Ombudsman found that Mrs A had not received an adequate response to the concerns raised. Although the Health Board’s complaint response adequately addressed the initial concerns raised, Mrs A had also submitted additional questions by email. The Health Board had not considered those questions as part of its investigation. Mrs A had been inconvenienced by the organisation’s actions, which had caused frustration for her.
The Health Board agreed to, within 6 weeks, consider the questions submitted to the Health Board, together with the additional matters raised in Mrs A’s complaint to the Ombudsman, and provide her with a further written complaint response. It also agreed to provide Mrs A with a written apology for the failure to consider the additional questions at the time of the initial investigation.