NHS Tayside hospital sent patient home days before they died

An NHS Tayside hospital has been forced to apologise after sending a patient home days before they died.

The patient turned up at the hospital with shortness of breath and abdominal distension.

Doctors prescribed blood thinners and discharged them with a plan to return for a scan within 48 hours to look for blood clots in the lungs.

However, the patient deteriorated within just hours of returning home.

They were taken back to the hospital by ambulance and admitted for treatment, where their condition deteriorated significantly.

Investigations revealed worsening heart failure, and they died within a few days.

A complaint was later made to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO), who found that the patient should have been admitted the first time rather than being sent home because they required oxygen.

The watchdog was also critical of the board for gaps in the patient’s records, meaning it was unable to establish what nursing checks were carried out on the day the patient deteriorated.

However, it found that medical staff acted appropriately.

“There was no evidence that the outcome in this case could have been avoided,” the Ombudsman said.

“We did not uphold this part of C’s complaint.”

A spokesperson for NHS Tayside said: “We always take the feedback we receive from the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman very seriously and have addressed all the recommendations within the report.

“We have apologised to the family and our thoughts remain with them.”