South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust

2. Miss D complains about the care and treatment the Trust gave to her father between 15 September and 12 October 2021. She says the Trust delayed giving medication and provided poor pressure care. She also says it did not give enough mental health support when her father was refusing important care, and there were failings in basic nursing.

3. Miss D says this had a negative effect on her father’s health and caused his death, which was avoidable. She says these events have had a big emotional impact on her and her family, and she has been unable to grieve.

4. Miss D would like the Trust to accept responsibility for her father’s death, make improvements to stop this happening again and pay her financial compensation.

7. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has the option to take legal action, unless we consider this is unreasonable in the circumstances.

8. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed, but whether it would be a reasonable option to look into. We have discussed this with Miss D to understand her circumstances.

9. Miss D has instructed a solicitor who has recently submitted a letter of claim to the Trust. Based on the law, we are unable to continue looking into Miss D’s complaint while she is pursuing a claim.

10. We understand this is very important to Miss D, and we wish her the best in pursuing her legal claim.

1. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has carefully considered Miss D’s complaint about the care South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust) provided to her father, Mr G. We are not investigating the complaint further because we think Miss D should continue taking legal action to explore this further. We hope legal action helps to resolve her concerns.