Barts Health NHS Trust

3. Mr A complains about the care and treatment he had from the Trust between February 2020 and February 2022. Mr A says:

• the Trust did not refer him to the restoration department as it said it would • by the time the Trust referred him his tooth could not be saved and he lost it.

4. Mr A wants a financial payment to cover the cost of future dental treatment. Mr A says he would like the maximum amount of money, around £20,000 because his tooth is priceless, it was distressing to lose it and he needs to pay for more treatment.

5. On 3 February 2020 Mr A went to an appointment for his tooth and says the dentist told him it could be saved and restored. He says he was told he would be referred to the restoration department.

6. Mr A was given an appointment for 20 February 2020 with the undergraduate restoration dental team, but it was cancelled because there was no tutor available to supervise.

7. Mr A says he did not get any letters, phone calls or an appointment after the referral was made.

8. Mr A says during the COVID-19 pandemic, nobody contacted him.

9. Mr A says he contacted the Trust in January or February 2023 and was given an urgent appointment for 28 February 2023.

11. 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. We have discussed this with Mr A 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.

12. We think Mr A could take legal action by making a clinical negligence claim. This is because of the potential negligence in care and treatment Mr A says he experienced and the compensation he wants.

13. We looked into whether it is reasonable for Mr A to take legal action. Mr A would like compensation for future dental costs and for the distress of losing his tooth.

14. Mr A says he is unable to put a price on losing a tooth but confirmed he is looking for around £20,000.

15. We looked at our guidance on recommending financial payments and the amount Mr A wants is more than we would be likely to recommend if we decided to uphold the complaint.

16. We explained Mr A may achieve a bigger payment if he were to take legal action because a court can consider things we cannot, like the cost of future treatment.

17. When we spoke to Mr A about legal action, he did say he did not want to speak to a solicitor due to his health and he may not be able to afford to go through the legal process.

18. We explained that a solicitor would normally do all the work and he would not have to be any more involved than he would be if we were to investigate the complaint. Mr A has not made any enquiries into taking legal action already.

19. We asked Mr A if there was any reason why he would not be able to get advice from a ‘no win, no fee’ solicitor. Mr A did not give any reasons why he could not do this.

20. We also asked Mr A if he could give any more information about his ill health and the impact this has on him on each day. Mr A explained he has a kidney condition and has had about 17 years of dialysis (treatment to remove waste products and excess fluid from the blood when kidneys stop working properly) and had a kidney transplant in 2014. He says he has also had around 20 operations. Mr A did not give any other information about how his condition affects him or how his condition would stop him from speaking to a solicitor, in the same way as he has spoken to us.

21. A solicitor would be working for him and would be able to support him through the process. It would not necessarily be more of a difficult process for Mr A. It is also possible that the matter could settle without the need to go to court.

22. Though we recognise Mr A’s health matters, we have had to consider if it would be unreasonable for Mr A to take legal action. Our view is there is a potential negligence claim to be made and it may result in a bigger payment than we would recommend. We think it is reasonable for Mr A to explore this. We checked with our legal team and it agreed with this.

23. We also thought about how there is a three-year time limit to make a clinical negligence claim and we do not want to stop him from taking this opportunity.

24. If Mr A does not achieve all the outcomes he is looking for by taking legal action, he can bring his complaint back to us and we can look at anything not achieved by a court. We would need to consider the time that has passed because our time limit would still apply.

1. We have carefully considered Mr A’s complaint about Barts Health NHS Trust (the Trust). We are very sorry to hear about the circumstances that led Mr A to come to us. We understand this complaint is very important to him.

2. We think Mr A could take legal action on his complaint. Based on this we have decided not to consider his complaint further. We explain our decision in detail in this statement.