Complaint

The complaint was submitted to the Office by a mother on behalf of her son. At the time of the complaint he was 10 years old. As a result of spinal difficulties he is a wheelchair user. His physiotherapist recommended that to maintain his health and strength, and specifically to maintain bone density, digestion and the drainage of his bladder and bowel, he should use a standing frame every day. However his frame broke in January 2012 and despite both his mother and the physiotherapist requesting the HSE to repair it, it still had not been repaired 10 months later.

Examination

As part of the examination of the complaint the Office wrote to the HSE to find out what was causing the delay and to request that it be fixed as soon as possible.

The HSE responded by explaining that there was such a long delay in the standing frame being repaired because the application was misplaced. The HSE assured the Office that they were reviewing their current waiting system both to ensure the mistake / misplacement would not happen again and to improve its efficiency.

Outcome

Two weeks after the Office wrote to the HSE, the standing frame was fixed.

Posted in: Investigations Health