North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust

3. Mr B complains about the following actions of the Trust when it was contacted about the condition of his partner, Miss L, in January 2021. Mr B states:

· the Trust failed to send an ambulance when required

· the clinician failed to assess and prioritise Miss L’s symptoms during the telephone call

· the clinician advised Miss L not to call 999 should her condition deteriorate.

4. Mr B says as a result of not sending an ambulance, Miss L was not given the chance for a better outcome and, unfortunately, she died in early February 2021. Mr B said he has been left devastated and has experienced anxiety and depression following Miss L’s death. He said he often wonders what would have happened had he rang an ambulance or taken his partner to hospital sooner. He explained that the phone call with the clinician left him with a false sense of hope. Mr B feels that he would have had many years to spend with his partner had this not happened.

5. Mr B has said he would like an apology, service improvements and compensation. He said he would like also like answers as to what happened.

Mr B’s complaint about the Trust

8. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has (or had) the option to take legal action, unless we consider this is (or was) unreasonable in the circumstances. We have discussed this with Mr B to understand his circumstances and the outcomes he wants. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look in to.

9. Mr B complains the poor care and treatment provided by the Trust contributed to the overall impact that his partner was not given the change for a better outcome, and she unfortunately died in early February 2021. Mr B said he has been left devastated and has experienced anxiety and depression following Miss L’s death. He said he often wonders what would have happened had he rang for an ambulance or taken his partner to hospital sooner. He explained that the phone call with the clinician left him with a false sense of hope.

10. The Citizens Advice Bureau website states clinical negligence is where you have been injured as a result of medically negligent treatment. Failure to carry out appropriate treatment could also amount to negligence. Mr B is claiming the Trust not sending the ambulance meant Miss L was not given the chance of a better outcome, and she subsequently died. This would amount to a clinical negligence claim.

11. Mr B would like compensation, service improvements, and an explanation as outcomes to his complaint. As Mr B complains about the poor treatment and service Miss L received in January 2021, he is still within the three year statutory time limit to start a clinical negligence claim. We think Mr B has a legal remedy available to him in clinical negligence.

12. While service improvements, and an explanation, are not direct outcomes achieved by the courts, Mr B may achieve these as a by-product of pursuing a clinical negligence claim.

13. We discussed the possibility of pursuing an alternative legal remedy (ALR) with Mr B to understand what his motivations were. Mr B explained that he wanted service improvements and answers as to what happened. He also said he would like compensation. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman have the ability to achieve all three of these. If Mr B pursued a clinical negligence claim, he could achieve compensation and he could receive answers to his questions surrounding the care Miss L received as a by-product of pursuing a claim. Although service improvements are not directly imposed by a court, if a court finds negligence, the Trust will be expected to make changes to ensure the negligence does not happen again.

14. Mr B said that he previously visited a barrister but did not pursue this avenue as the barrister said there could be an issue with causation. We explained to Mr B that we believed his complaint fell into level four or five on the Severity of Injustice Scale. We understand Mr B did not have a specific figure in mind, but we would not want to limit Mr B’s ability to achieve more compensation. The courts can decide on the sum of compensation awarded in line with the Judicial College Guidelines therefore, they have the ability to award more than we can.

15. We wanted to know whether there were any barriers preventing Mr B from pursuing a clinical negligence claim. Mr B said he was now pursuing a clinical negligence claim and he had a helper who was going to assist him.

16. Mr B asked us for guidance throughout the route. We explained that we cannot get involved in such claims, but we were able to provide the details for the charity Action Against Medical Accidents.

17. Given that Mr B is in the process of pursuing a clinical negligence claim and he is satisfied with what the courts could achieve, we believe it is reasonable for Mr B to pursue ALR. We have seen no reason why it would be unreasonable for Mr B to pursue this avenue and no other barriers to the process was provided to us by Mr B.

18. We hope pursuing a claim brings closure for Mr B after his partner’s death. Should Mr B be unsuccessful in bringing a claim in clinical negligence, he is able to bring his complaint back to us.

1. We have carefully considered Mr B’s complaint about North West Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust). We consider Mr B could take legal action on the matter he has brought to us.

2. We understand Mr B has experienced a very upsetting and difficult time following Miss L’s death. We would like to offer our sincere condolences to Mr B and thank him for bringing his complaint to our attention.