Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

3. Ms C complains about the following aspects of the Trust’s care after Mr C’s admission in January 2021. She says the Trust: • communicated poorly with her family about Mr C’s care, made decisions without consulting them and forced them to agree to a Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) decision • took too long to involve physiotherapists when Mr C needed to cough up phlegm • incorrectly said Mr C had a pre-existing lung condition and contact with asbestos, and did not allow him to be part of the RECOVERY trial • took too long to start proning Mr C (turning him onto his front) • did not allow time for Mr C’s condition to show improvements and ended his treatment abruptly in the intensive care unit (ICU) • did not document all of the care Mr C had • gave the impression it did not want to fully respond to her complaint.

4. Ms C feels the care on the ward at the start of Mr C’s admission contributed to his decline and meant he had to go to the ICU. She feels the Trust did not fully explore all the possible treatment options. She says Mr C’s death could have been avoided and she is concerned about the post-mortem findings.

5. Ms C wants the Trust to improve the care it gives and its complaint handling. She would also like financial compensation.

6. An ambulance took Mr C to hospital on 12 January. He had been showing symptoms of COVID-19.

7. During Mr C’s admission, the Trust considered if he could be included in the RECOVERY trial. This was a clinical trial for treatments for COVID-19. The Trust decided Mr C was not eligible for the trial.

8. Sadly, Mr C died in hospital in early February 2021. Ms C complained to the Trust and brought her complaint to us after getting its final response.

10. Before we can look into a complaint, we have to check the complaint passes our initial tests. These are set out in the Health Service Commissioners Act 1993, which is the law that covers our work.

11. 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 discussed this with Ms C 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 into.

12. Ms C’s main concern is the clinical care and treatment the Trust gave Mr C. Ms C believes shortcomings in the Trust’s care may have led to Mr C’s death. This suggests Ms C could consider making a clinical negligence claim.

13. We gave Ms C information about our approach to recommending financial compensation, including our ‘severity of injustice scale’. Our scale sets out the amounts we typically recommend. Ms C told us she wants an amount in line with the highest level on the scale – at least £10,000. She mentioned Mr C had been the main earner in his household.

14. We asked Ms C if there is anything stopping her from taking legal action. Ms C told us she had not considered legal action because she wanted us to investigate first. She said she felt this would give her a better idea of whether it is worth taking legal action. Unfortunately, if someone wants to make a legal claim, we cannot help them with this.

15. Ms C was unsure whether she would be able to pay for legal action. We shared resources with Ms C which may help her find free legal advice. She may also find a ‘no win, no fee’ legal firm willing to take her case on in a way she can afford.

16. It seems in Ms C’s best interests to get legal advice. There are time limits for making legal claims and a court could award the level of financial compensation she wants, like a payment for lost income. Legal action can sometimes achieve other outcomes as a by-product of any decision that is made. This could include the service improvements Ms C is looking for.

17. Taking all of this into account, legal action seems to be a reasonable option for Ms C to explore. We are unable to keep the case open while she gets advice. This is why we are taking no further action on this complaint.

18. If Ms C is unable to take legal action or the court does not look at all the outcomes she wants, she may decide to bring this complaint back to us. If that happens, we will need to consider our time limit, so it is important she returns to us quickly. We will also check how far she got with the legal process to understand why she has returned to us.

19. We do not question how difficult Ms C’s experience was and we are sorry we are unable to help her in the way she expected. We offer our condolences for her loss and hope this statement clearly explains our reasoning.

1. The Parliamentary and Health Service has carefully considered Ms C’s complaint about Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust). We are sorry to hear of her concerns about what happened when her father, Mr C, was in hospital.

2. We consider Ms C could take legal action on the matter she has brought to us. This is why we have decided not to consider the complaint further.