Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust

3. Ms A complains about delays in doing blood tests and a CT scan on her father in July 2022. She says because of the delays her father had a cardiac arrest and sadly died. She explains the experience has left her emotionally distressed and in shock. She would like changes to procedures and financial compensation.

6. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has the option to take legal action, unless we consider it is not reasonable for them to do this. We do not base our decision on how successful legal action would be, but on whether it is a reasonable option for someone to take.

7. We discussed this with Ms A to understand her circumstances and the outcomes she wants. We understand Ms A wants the Trust to make changes and to pay her financial compensation. Financial compensation is something that can be achieved by legal action and making a clinical negligence claim.

8. A successful claim can also mean organisations make changes to their processes, to stop the same thing happening again.

9. We are not able to recommend the same amount of financial compensation that a court can. While we can recommend financial compensation, legal action is the best way for Ms A to see if she can achieve the kind of outcome she wants.

10. Ms A has spoken with a solicitor and is waiting to hear more from them. Ms A could also consider a ‘no-win, no-fee’ solicitor as there would be no upfront costs.

11. Ms A explained her main aim is to make sure the Trust makes changes so other families do not have the same experience. If Ms A does not achieve this outcome when taking legal action, she can bring her complaint back to us and we will consider if we can help.

12. We have considered the relevant factors and the law. Ms A still has time to take legal action. We do not see any barriers to stop her taking legal action and we think it is reasonable for her to explore this. This is why we have decided not to take the complaint further.

1. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has carefully considered Ms A’s complaint about delays in the care and treatment Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (the Trust) gave to her father, Mr A. Ms A could take legal action on the matter she has brought to us. For this reason, we have decided not to consider the complaint further and we have explained the reason for this decision below.

2. We understand how important this complaint is to Ms A. We are sorry to hear how much upset the situation caused Ms A and her family.