Advice centre

Two hospital doctors receive claims after a delayed cancer diagnosis, which Medical Protection eventually takes to trial.

Child J, a one-week-old baby girl, was noticed to have a clicking right hip when she was seen by the community midwife. A referral to the orthopaedic clinic was requested and Child J was reviewed by orthopaedic junior doctor, Dr M, three weeks later. Dr M confirmed that there was no relevant family history and examined Child J.

Forty-four-year-old Ms M presented to her GP with pain and swelling of her right knee. She had experienced similar symptoms three years earlier whilst pregnant but had not undergone any investigations at the time

Complaints in health and social care: standards and guidelines for resolution and learning (2009) aims to provide a simple, consistent approach for staff who handle complaints, and for patients who raise complaints across all health and social care services.