3. Mr O complains about two hip operations completed by the Trust in 2004 and 2014. He complains there were errors made in both surgeries.
4. As a result, Mr O says he is now bed ridden and immobile due to a deterioration in his hip. He says the failures during the procedures have made further treatment extremely complicated.
5. Mr O is seeking a financial remedy.
7. The law (the Health Service Commissioners Act 1993) says a person needs to make their complaint to us within a year of becoming aware of the problem. We cannot investigate complaints brought to us after one year, unless we consider there is a good reason to do so.
8. We have discussed this with Mr O to understand the reasons why he could not do so. We have also considered the time the Trust has taken to respond to Mr O.
9. Mr O told us he knew between 2007 and 2008 the initial procedure conducted in 2004 had not been completed correctly, as he was in so much pain and was experiencing clicking and grinding in his hip.
10. He went on to have further hip revision surgery in 2014 to correct the ongoing issues. He says further errors occurred during surgery which resulted in him being unable to walk.
11. We are satisfied Mr O knew about the first matter complained about by 2008. That means to be within our time limit he needed to come to us by 2009. He did not approach us until 24 August 2021, over 11 years outside of our time limit.
12. Mr O told us he remained in pain following the second operation, in 2014. However, he says it was not until December 2019 when he had a firm reason to believe something had gone wrong with the operation. This was when an X-ray showed a problem with the cup position. This was confirmed by a further X-ray in January 2020. On this basis, Mr O needed to come us by December 2020 to be within our time limit. Mr O complained to us on 26 August 2021, eight months out of our time limit.
13. Mr O complained to the Trust on 19 November 2020, 11 years after his full hip replacement and seven years after his corrective operation. The Trust sent a final response on 29 June 2021. In total local resolution took almost six months.
14. Mr O explained to us the reason for his delay was due to believing that the symptoms and pain may subside in time with further treatment. He had been referred to several different hospitals to remedy his pain with different treatments but at present they all remain unsuccessful. He did not provide any reasons he was not able to complain earlier, which would have allowed him to approach us within our time limit.
15. There is a significant amount of time between both events occurring and raising a complaint with the Trust. Although Mr O expected his condition may have improved with further treatment, this does not explain the significant delays.
16. Having weighed up Mr O’s reasons for the delay and considering the time taken for local resolution to be completed, we have seen no good reason to set our time limit aside in this case. This is because there is a significant gap where Mr O was able to complain and did not.
17. We are sorry Mr O remains in pain and hope he can achieve successful treatment for his condition following his referral to specialist surgeons in London.
1. We have carefully considered Mr O’s complaint about Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust). We are sorry to hear of the difficulties Mr O has faced following his hip surgery.
2. We have decided the complaint falls outside of our time limit.