7. The law 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. We have discussed this with Ms N to understand the reasons why she could not bring her complaint to us sooner. We have also considered the time the Trust has taken to respond to Ms N’s complaint.
8. Ms N confirmed she knew of her reason to complain when she attended an appointment on 21 October 2019 and a wound specialist noticed a stitch had been left in her groin. Ms N confirms, once the stitch was removed, she knew this was the cause of the infection and odour in her groin. We consider this to be Ms N’s date of knowledge. For her complaint to be in time, Ms N would have needed to approach us by 21 October 2020. Ms N brought her complaint to us on 7 October 2021. Her complaint is out of time by one year, and it is important we consider the reasons why.
9. Ms N first complained to the Trust about her care on 15 March 2020, five months after her date of knowledge. Ms N says the reason for this was she was gathering evidence to make the complaint.
10. We recognise the immediate time after Ms N’s treatment would have been very difficult and upsetting. We do not underestimate the distress experienced by Ms N and her mother during this time. It remains the delay that occurred here is very significant. We do not consider the length of this delay to be reasonable.
11. The Trust responded to Ms N’s complaint in June 2020. Ms N had no control over the time the Trust took to respond, for this reason we will put the period from March to June 2020 to one side.
12. The Trust’s response signposted Ms N to our service. This means that Ms N and her mother had information they needed to raise the complaint with us from June 2020. Ms N’s mother explained they did not do this due to her not having a computer. Ms N’s correspondence with the Trust was via email, meaning they had the means to access our website, as well as our contact number to contact us via telephone. We do not consider this is sufficient reason for us to put this period of time to one side.
13. Ms N received the final response from the Trust in December 2020. This included all relevant information for contacting us for an independent review. Ms N did not bring the complaint to us until October 2021, which is a delay of ten months. When discussing the reason for this delay, Ms N’s mother explained that this was due to COVID-19. Our offices were open, and we were accepting complaints during this period. We do not consider this is sufficient reason for us to put this period of time to one side.
14. Ms N brought her complaint to us in October 2021, one year passed our time limit. While we have taken into account the time immediately after Ms N’s treatment and the time the Trust took to respond to her complaint, we do not see sufficient reason for the other delays. We recognise how upsetting the events have been, and continue to be, for her and her mother. It remains that we see various opportunities where we consider she could have pursued her complaint much sooner. For this reason, we will be taking no further action on this complaint.