A WOMAN was left "severely traumatised" after surgeons refused to stop a medical procedure despite her pleas.

An investigation by health watchdogs found that the patient and nursing staff asked doctors to halt the procedure because it was "excessively painful" but they were ignored.

The patient, who has not been named, was undergoing a colonoscopy, an examination of the bowel using a camera on a flexible tube, at Hairmyres Hospital in Lanarkshire.

The procedure was due to be carried out under general anaesthetic because a previous one using only conscious sedation had been painful for the patient.

However, the operating theatre was unexpectedly unavailable so the procedure was carried out in the endoscopy unit using sedation.

An investigation found that the woman asked the two surgeons "many times" for the procedure to be stopped after she began suffering severe pain.

However, the doctors (a senior staff grade surgeon and a consultant colorectal surgeon) continued.

The patient, known as Mrs C, said she suffered excessive pain and discomfort during the procedure, and for more than a month afterwards and was left severely traumatised.

An investigation by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Jim Martin upheld all her complaints against NHS Lanarkshire.

The panel took advice from a colorectal surgeon who said the procedure should have been stopped immediately and rescheduled to be carried out with a general anaesthetic, when the patient complained of pain.

The surgical advisor said that the consultant had flouted General Medical Council guidelines on obtaining informed consent.

The consultant had also made a "serious error" in not giving the surgeon a clear explanation of the patient's previous, poor experience of colonoscopy and clear instructions to stop if the procedure was too painful or distressing for her.

The adviser said that the evidence clearly demonstrated the withdrawal of Mrs C's consent for the procedure.

Mr Martin said: "My investigation identified a number of serious failings including poor communication, poor record-keeping, poor understanding of the consent process, and a failure to stop the procedure when asked by Mrs C.

"I was also concerned that the board and the consultant did not appear to have understood, acknowledged or sufficiently appreciated the seriousness of the failings.

" Nor had they identified all the learning required or taken sufficient remedial action."

The health board has been told to apologise to the patient, to review colsposcopy procedures and for the consultants involved to undergo further training.

Dr Jane Burns, NHS Lanarkshire acute divisional medical director, said: "We regret any instance where we fail to provide the highest standards of care for our patients and we will contact the complainant directly to offer our sincere apologies for the failings identified in the report.

"We have fully accepted the recommendations within the Ombudsman’s report and will develop an action plan to address them.

"The lessons learned will be shared so that similar occurrences do not happen in future.”