A disabled member of my family has made a formal complaint about care provided by a Head of Dept Consultant at our local hospital (backed up by 2 family members). The complaint is not upheld. We can contact the SPSO.
As part of the complaint we requested a 2nd opinion in our neighbouring health board (50% of patients scans were sent & interpreted there as local HoD not qualified, also a senior NHS Consultant there has given a different dx privately)
A separate letter arrived from the local Consultant in question saying that He himself provided the information to the deciding board who have denied the request for a 2nd opinion. He encloses a copy of their letter to him which says it was not given details of our complaint. Surely this is a conflict of interest?
No information is given to advise a pathway if we are unhappy with this (we are)
Is it standard that 'Patient choice is not available to Scottish residents in choosing which health provider they wish to be seen in' and for the person who is the subject of a formal complaint to be the one who decides what information is given to the panel who decides if a patient can obtain a 2nd opinion elsewhere?
I have spoken to our local PASS person but she doesn't want to be involved unless she can write all the correspondence herself (it's a complex case and she has got quite a few facts wrong plus our written English is better than hers so we have preferred to do this oart ourselves) She 'cannnot advise on procedure unless she handles the whole thing', hence me asking here.