A SURGEON and clinical staff were sent on a communications course after a consultant joked with a patient about his bungled operation.
It follows a complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman about a spinal operation at the city's ERI that went wrong.
Two further operations were needed to correct damage caused in the first one, leading the consultant to reportedly quip:
"Two out of three ain't bad."
He has since apologised and maintained he was only trying to reassure the patient. But he and other clinical staff were sent on a communications skills course last November.
Following surgery in February 2006, the man – who must be referred to as Mr C – was left with damage to his leg, and was so angry at his treatment he transferred health board to Tayside.
He lodged a formal complaint to the Scottish Ombudsman about the surgery, which saw two screws inserted in the wrong place. He also made hygiene complaints, saying there were no towels in the bathroom for an entire weekend and that bloody dressings were left on the shower floor.
Both grievances have been upheld and NHS Lothian has issued an apology and outlined measures it has taken to improve the position.
The report states that the man had undergone two further operations to correct the positioning of screws into the vertebrae, but still experiences reduced mobility and requires ongoing treatment.
It was ruled that a CT scan should have taken place before the second operation which would have negated the need for a third bout of surgery and found that there were two screws wrongly placed, rather than just one.
The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman agreed that the surgery hadn't been done properly, stating:
"I accept that, due to the nature of this surgery, the surgeon cannot be certain of the placement of the pedicle screws. All reasonable precautions were taken to avoid malpositioning of the screws. However, I was concerned to learn that two screws were malpositioned, and that Mr C was subjected to an unnecessary surgical procedure due to the lack of a CT scan, which should have been carried out as a matter of routine, following his first operation."
The ombudsman also checked records at the time of Mr C's hygiene complaint which showed there were problems with the laundry facilities, seemingly backing up his complaint.
Professor Heather Tierney-Moore, Director of Nursing at NHS Lothian, said: "We accept the recommendations in the report and action has been taken to implement them.
"Since Mr C's treatment, measures have been put in place to improve cleaning standards at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
"Although it was recognised in the report that Mr C's experience in 2006 in relation to availability of towels was an 'extraordinary occurrence', staff have been reminded of the procedures involved in the event of a laundry malfunction."
The full article contains 486 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
