University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust

2. Mr I complains the Trust did not diagnose a haematoma (a collection of blood outside of the larger blood vessels, caused by injuries or trauma) between 8 and 12 April 2022. He also complains the Trust failed to communicate the results of a positive COVID-19 test between 11 and 12 April 2022.

3. Mr I says because of this he had to have a second surgery, which caused him more pain and distress. He also says because he was self-employed and could not work, he lost income. Mr I says the poor communication caused him and Mrs I stress and worry.

4. Mr I wants service improvement and financial compensation.

6. The Health Service Commissioner’s Act 1993 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 I 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 in to.

7. We considered how Mr I says he has been affected and what he is looking for as an outcome. He could take legal action to achieve this by making a clinical negligence claim.

8. Mr I says he wants up to £20,000 in compensation. We discussed how we look at deciding how much compensation to recommend, if we investigate and find failings. Mr I wants more compensation than we would be likely to recommend in the circumstances. Mr I would be more likely to achieve the compensation he is looking for by taking legal action.

9. We asked Mr I if he took legal advice before contacting us and he said he has. He said he is happy to explore this further and get more legal advice.

10. Mr I can contact us again after exploring legal action and we can look at his complaint again to see if there is anything left for us to investigate. He would need to contact us as soon as possible as we have a time limit for investigating complaints.

1. We have carefully considered Mr I’s complaint about University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust). We understand the distress Mr I and his wife experienced. We have decided Mr I could take legal action on his complaint.