8. The law says a person needs to make their complaint to us within 12 months of becoming aware of the problem. We cannot investigate complaints brought to us after this, unless we consider there is a good reason to.
9. Mr A said he became aware of a problem after his brother’s inquest (an investigation into the cause of death) on 26 February 2021.
10. To be within our time limit, Mr A needed to come to us by 26 February 2022. He came to us on 10 January 2023, 11 months outside of our time limit. We looked at the reasons why Mr A did not come to us sooner.
11. Mr A complained to the Trust on 5 April 2022. This is one year and two months after the date he became aware he had reason to complain.
12. Mr A has given reasons for the delay in taking his complaint to the Trust. He explained it took him time to process findings from the inquest and to form his views. Mr A also said he had depression. We fully appreciate and sympathise with the difficulties he was experiencing at this time.
13. We also think this is a long period meaning it was even outside of the NHS complaint handling regulations. Because of this, the Trust did not have to investigate Mr A’s complaint.
14. There was a delay of four months after the Trust sent its response to when Mr A came to us.
15. Mr A said this is because it took him time to process the Trust’s response. We understand this took some time. We think it is reasonable to say that by this time, Mr A was finding things more manageable because he was able to complain to the Trust. This suggests he could have then come to us sooner.
16. We have decided not to put the time limit to one side as we have not seen strong enough reasons for the delays.
17. It is important we consider and act within the law and we regret any upset this decision may cause Mr A. We hope this statement clearly explains the reasons for our decision and why we will not be considering the complaint further.