Medical negligence claim news
30/06/2011

Report recommends compensation

It has been recommended in a report made by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales that a cancer patient should receive £3,000 in medical negligence compensation, after hospital staff failed to monitor his illness with the necessary check-ups.

The man had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and was meant to have a regular three monthly check-up to monitor his condition. However, due to a backlog at the urology department of West Wales General Hospital, in Carmarthen he was not seen by doctors again until 12 months after his initial diagnosis, resulting in a spread of the disease which had gone unmonitored.

The report stated that the progression of the disease would have been detected earlier and treatment could have started much sooner if the patient had been seen when expected.

The report was commissioned after the patient made a complaint against the Hywel Dda Health Board, who admitted to administrative failings at the hospital. The man, who has been left distressed and uncertain of his future, is set to receive £3,000 in medical negligence compensation.