Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

2. Mrs A complains the Trust prescribed her incorrect medication during her stay in hospital following the removal of her gall bladder in April 2021. Mrs A says she has low blood pressure but the Trust prescribed amlodipine (medication for high blood pressure). She says this continued, along with a prescription for amiodarone (heart medication), after she had been discharged and until a cardiologist (a specialist who diagnoses, assesses and treats patients with defects and diseases of the heart and blood vessels) told her she did not need to take them.

3. Mrs A says she should have been in hospital for five days only but ended up staying for ten weeks due to complications with her care. She says during this period she was extremely ill due to being prescribed amlodipine. She also wonders if this and the amiodarone have affected her health.

4. Mrs A wants substantial compensation. She does not mention an amount but says she wants to pursue her complaint with a solicitor.

6. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint if 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 Mrs A to understand her circumstances and the outcomes she wants. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look in to.

7. Having spoken to Mrs A about what she wants to achieve by making this complaint, we understand she is looking for financial compensation. We have asked her how much would be appropriate and told her how much we estimate we could achieve through our process. Although Mrs A has not specified an amount, we note she is keen to achieve a substantial sum to make sure the Trust learns from her case. We have discussed the possibility of legal representation and the likelihood that Mrs A could get substantially higher financial compensation through that route.

8. On hearing this, Mrs A explained she would like to pursue this option before we take the complaint any further. So, we have agreed to close the case to allow her to do this.

1. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has carefully considered Mrs A’s complaint about Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (the Trust). We appreciate the difficult experience Mrs A has had following her surgery. We have decided to take no further action on this case because we consider Mrs A could take legal action on the matter she has brought to us.