A PATIENT who was discharged from a Forth Valley Royal Hospital with an unaddressed medical condition had to be brought back by ambulance the next day.

NHS Forth Valley has apologised to the patient and their family following the incident after the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman upheld a complaint.

According to the ombudsman's findings, it was “unreasonable” for the health board to have discharged the patient from hospital, where they were admitted following an insulin overdose.

The patient received treatment in intensive care and was later transferred to a general ward where they stayed for several days before being discharged.

However, the patient was “readmitted to hospital by ambulance transfer the day after their discharge”, the ombudsman's decision report revealed.

Having taking advice from an emergency medicine consultant, the ombudsman's report read: “We found that it was unreasonable for the board to have discharged A [the patient].

“We found that there were failings in the discharge process which had led to A being discharged with an unaddressed medical condition.”

The ombudsman also found that there had been a delay in undertaking a psychiatric review with feedback provided to the health board.

A spokesperson for NHS Forth Valley said: "We have apologised to the family and work is underway to ensure the recommendations from this review are addressed."

The ombudsman's report added: “In similar circumstances, patients should be fully and appropriately assessed prior to their discharge from hospital and the assessment recorded in the patient’s clinical records.”