Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust

3. Mr U complains about the Trust’s care and treatment of Miss U after a sports accident in November 2022. Mr U complains the emergency department sent Miss U away without examining her and without treatment, despite her being in a lot of pain. Mr U tells us he took Miss U to another hospital because her pain did not stop, and it found she had a prolapsed disc.

4. Mr U says Miss U was left in severe pain. He also says she missed school and is still having physiotherapy. She has not been able to play sports.

5. Mr U would like the Trust to accept its failings and apologise. He would also like service improvements and financial compensation.

6. Miss U suffered a neck injury while playing sport. Mr U took her to a minor injuries unit (not part of the Trust) and they advised Miss U should be seen at accident and emergency immediately and should be immobilised. Mr U says there was an eight-hour wait for an ambulance so he decided to take Miss U by car to the Trust.

7. Mr U says the triage nurse saw Miss U and immediately called for a doctor to examine her. They were taken into a side room and the doctor explained that Miss U had soft tissue damage and if it was anything more serious, she would not be able to move. Mr U tells us the advice given was to keep moving and go home.

8. Mr U says overnight his daughter was in uncontrollable amounts of pain. She took paracetamol and ibuprofen but this made no difference. She also experienced pins and needles, dizziness and nausea.

9. Mr U took Miss U to another hospital and she was immediately immobilised and put in head blocks while awaiting for an emergency X-ray and MRI scan (type of scan that uses strong magnetic fields and radio waves to produce detailed images of the inside of the body).

10. Two days later Miss U was diagnosed with a prolapsed disc.

13. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint where 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 Mr U to understand his circumstances and the outcomes he wants. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look into.

14. We asked Mr U if he has considered taking legal action before. He explained he considered it and was interested in seeking legal advice, but wanted to discuss the complaint with us first because he had never been in this situation before. He said there was nothing stopping him from taking legal action

15. Due to the nature of the complaint and the outcomes Mr U is seeking, it would be reasonable for him to pursue a clinical negligence claim. If successful, financial compensation may be recommended.

16. We realise Mr U also wants the Trust to accept its mistakes and make service improvements. While a clinical negligence claim is mainly focused on compensation, other outcomes can be achieved as a by-product of successful court action, if the Trust is found liable.

17. For the reasons explained above, we are taking no further action to allow Mr U to pursue legal action.

18. We are sorry to hear of the events that led to Mr U’s complaint. We understand how distressing this will have been and appreciate the efforts he has made to pursue the complaint so far.

1. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has carefully considered Mr U’s complaint about Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust (the Trust). We consider Mr U could take legal action on the matter he has have brought to us.

2. We are sorry to hear of the concerns Mr U brought to us, and for the distressing events he and his daughter, Miss U, experienced. We understand this is very upsetting for them both.