A practice in the North Tyneside area

3. Mr O complains the Practice is not doing enough to help him with his ongoing back and neck pain. He specifically complains between 1 March and 20 August 2021 the Practice:

• has not accurately listed his symptoms in his medical records • has referred him for scans that were not necessary • did not refer him for surgery, which he says he needed to address his ongoing pain.

4. Mr O says he is heavily impacted by pain that is not being addressed. He has no sex life because of the severe pain, which is putting pressure on his marriage. He cannot work or leave the house because he is incontinent. He cannot sleep and has constant headaches. Mr O says the Practice has not addressed his issues correctly because not all his symptoms are listed as problems in his medical records. He feels the Practice has left him to suffer by referring him for unnecessary scans and not referring him for surgery as he has requested.

5. Mr O is seeking financial compensation and an apology from the Practice. He said in an email dated 5 January 2023 he wants a minimum of £700,000 compensation. Mr O feels this would help towards the cost of a full-time carer for ten years.

6. Mr O has ongoing health issues due to multiple accidents in the early 1990s. Because of these accidents, he has ongoing health issues, including nerve damage, slipped discs in his back, frequent neck cracking and loss of balance, along with many other symptoms.

7. These health issues are causing Mr O ongoing pain throughout his whole body. The pain is also affecting his mental health as he says he cannot bear it and is fed up with feeling like he is not being helped. Mr O says the Practice is not doing enough to help him and has failed to refer him to the appropriate specialists.

8. Between 1 March 2021 and 10 August 2021, Mr O attended 20 appointments with three different departments, including: the Integrated Musculoskeletal Service (which helps patients with bone-related problems) for pain in his head, neck, hips, legs, ankle and wrist; gastroenterology (a service which focuses on the digestive system) for his incontinence and problems swallowing; and urology (a service which treats the urinary tract) for his erectile disfunction and testicle pain. Mr O says he is still suffering the same pain after all these appointments and feels like nothing is helping. He states the Practice has referred him to the wrong services.

9. Mr O says he became aware there was a need to complain about these issues on 20 March 2021. In our initial call he stated none of the scans have helped him, so they have all been unnecessary. He brought his complaint to us on 30 December 2021.

11. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has (or had) the option to take legal action, unless we think this is (or was) unreasonable in the circumstances. We discussed this with Mr O to understand his circumstances and the outcomes he would like.

12. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look into.

13. We have considered that Mr O’s complaint relates to the care and treatment the Practice has carried out regarding his ongoing medical issues.

14. Mr O told us he is seeking £700,000 as an outcome to his complaint.

15. As the complaint relates to clinical issues and the treatment provided, combined with Mr O’s requested outcome of a large financial award, it is reasonable to expect him to seek legal advice and/or action. We consider the courts would be better suited to providing Mr O with a financial outcome which suits his requirements.

16. By law Mr O has three years from the date he knew he could make a complaint to take legal action, so he has until March 2024 to pursue legal action, if legal advice confirms he has a claim. We do not want to disadvantage Mr O as he could be out of time to pursue legal action after we have completed our process. Mr O has the option to refer the complaint back to us if legal action is not an option for him.

17. Mr O has given us no reason why he is not taking legal action now or why he has not taken legal advice before coming to us, regarding the concerns he has raised. We have not found any reasons which would prevent Mr O from pursuing legal action, nor have we found any circumstances or reasons why legal action is not suitable in this case.

18. We are satisfied the best outcome for Mr O’s complaint is to take legal action by way of a clinical negligence claim. We believe this is better suited to his hope for the outcome of a large financial award. If Mr O is unable to gain legal support, then he can bring his complaint back to us.

1. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has carefully considered Mr O’s complaint about a practice in the North Tyneside area (the Practice). We think Mr O could take legal action on the matter through a clinical negligence claim.

2. We understand the events which caused Mr O to complain are very important to him. We recognise the impact Mr O’s chronic pain and the events complained about have had on him and his partner.