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"Wrong casting and operation"

About: Ninewells Hospital / Trauma & Orthopaedics

(as the patient),

I recently went to Ninewells to get an assessment done on a second metacarpal fracture. I had to get an X-ray to see how it was healing as it had been agreed I was to get an operation as it was an unstable fracture. However, on the day of my operation I was told they don’t have to time to do it anymore and all of a sudden I have been told my X-ray looks okay, which has put a lot of doubt in my mind as I was told that I would need to operation and felt as though it wasn’t getting done because they didn’t have the time to do it.

When I got a follow-up X-ray I received no feedback on how it was looking. I was then sent down to get my hand re-casted, however when I went to get it done they casted my pinky finger and my ring finger, which both these fingers are not injured, and my injured part of my hand was left without any support and was left out of the cast.

I then phoned the next day as my hand was in pain and I thought they had casted my hand wrong, which I then discovered it had been casted the wrong way. I received no apology from Ninewells about this and the member of staff on the phone said they weren’t told of my injury.

They asked if I could come in so they could fix it, but I asked if I could get this done at another hospital, as I am unable to drive due to my injury so have to rely on someone taking me through which they reluctantly agreed to me getting this done. This was then fixed at the other hospital.

This has just ruined my trust in the NHS as my whole experience at being at Ninewells has always felt really rushed and I felt like I haven’t received the quality of care I deserve, also the fact surgeons have been saying different things about my fracture, one saying I need an operation and the other saying it looks okay which has just made me worry about how it is going to heal.

I understand people make mistakes but I just feel this was unacceptable and very avoidable and has caused me a lot of stress and pain. 

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Responses

Response from Nicola Parry, Senior Charge Nurse, Orthopaedic Outpatients & Plaster Room, NHS Tayside 2 days ago
Nicola Parry
Senior Charge Nurse, Orthopaedic Outpatients & Plaster Room,
NHS Tayside
Submitted on 17/07/2025 at 16:40
Published on Care Opinion on 18/07/2025 at 09:42


Good afternoon pelicanhq88,

I am sorry to hear of your injury and your associated journey. I apologise on behalf of my team that you received the incorrect treatment and that you subsequently required to have additional travel to a different hospital to have this corrected.

With regards to your diagnosis and treatment plan of your fracture, I will make the Plastic Surgery Hand Team aware.

If you would like to discuss this further, please contact myself.

I wish you all the best in your recovery.

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Response from Jackie Rodger, Lead Nurse, Surgery and Orthopaedics, NHS Tayside yesterday
Jackie Rodger
Lead Nurse, Surgery and Orthopaedics,
NHS Tayside
Submitted on 18/07/2025 at 10:22
Published on Care Opinion at 10:22


Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us. I wish to sincerely apologise for the lack of communication and poor care experience. This is certainly not the standard that we strive to achieve. We would appreciate the opportunity to learn from your experience and make improvements to ensure this does not happen again to other patients and would, therefore, be grateful if you could email your details to the patient experience team. This would allow us to formally investigate your situation and provide you with a detailed account. The email address is tay.feedback@nhs.scot

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