East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust

3. Mrs O, who represents Mr O, complains about the care and treatment he received from the Trust between January 2022 and March 2022. Mr O says the Trust: • neglected him, which led to an anastomotic leak (an anastomotic leak happens when a surgical join fails and contents of a reconnected body channel leak from the surgical connection) • was negligent in its care, which led to a permanent stoma bag (a stoma bag is a bag fitted outside the body to collect faeces when they have had to bypass the bowel surgically) • incorrectly discharged him on two occasions after his bowel surgery • offered no support on discharge.

4. As a result, Mrs O says Mr O has been left with a stoma bag for life. Mr O also says he is in constant pain and on medication for life. This has impacted Mr O’s mental health as he is no longer able to do his usual day-to-day activities.

5. Mr O wants significant compensation for the distress caused and for loss of earnings.

7. The Act says if a complainant wants an outcome which could potentially be achieved via a legal route, then we should not consider the complaint unless it is unreasonable for the complainant to pursue a route to take legal action.

8. Mrs O says the care and treatment Mr O received from the Trust fell short of expected standards. Mrs O also says the Trust’s negligence resulted in Mr O having a permanent stoma bag fitted.

9. As a result, Mrs O says this has been life changing for Mr O. She says Mr O is unable to lead the same life as he did before the operation, and he is in constant pain.

10. Mrs O told us as the outcome she wants is significant financial compensation.

11. The amount Mrs O wants is a significant sum that could potentially be achieved via a clinical negligence claim. So, we consider she could pursue her complaint that way.

12. We understand why Mrs O approached us first with her complaint. But, as explained above, we cannot consider a complaint if the person could potentially seek legal action to address their concerns.

13. We have not seen any other practical barriers or significant reasons which would prevent Mrs O from speaking to a solicitor about her complaint. On this basis, we have decided not to consider the complaint further at this time.

14. Once Mrs O has explored the legal route in full, if she is not able to pursue it for any reason, she may come back to us, and we could potentially consider it as a new complaint. Please note, the Act says we can only consider complaints which have been brought to us within 12 months of the person becoming aware of the need to complain. So, Mrs O should approach us quickly if she cannot pursue her complaint via a legal route.

15. We appreciate Mrs O’s strength of feeling about her complaint and do not wish to diminish the impact she says these events have had for Mr O. We have decided we will not take further action on this complaint as we believe there is a route to take legal action available. We hope we have explained the thorough consideration we have given to our decision and clearly outlined the reasons for it.

1. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has carefully considered Mrs O’s complaint about East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust (the Trust). The complaint relates to the care and treatment her husband, Mr O, received from the Trust.

2. We are very sorry to hear about the issues Mr O has faced. We consider Mrs O could take legal action on the matter she has brought to us.