Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust

3. Mr O complains about the care and treatment he received from the Trust between April and June 2018. He complains: • staff tried him on Elvanse and Vyvanse medication (to treat ADHD) which gave him bad side effects and he did not feel any benefit from them • he was inappropriately discharged from the ADHD service in April 2018 and the reasons for this were not explained • he was made to wait for a second opinion about his adult ADHD diagnosis, appointments were cancelled many times and he gave up waiting.

4. Mr O says the medication caused his tics (repetitive muscle movements) and anxiety to get much worse. The discharge and delayed second opinion made him feel unsupported. He says he did not manage to improve his ADHD symptoms and this meant he continued to struggle to hold down jobs and lead an active social life. He feels if the Trust had treated him appropriately in 2018, his situation could have been improved a lot sooner.

5. Mr O wants the Trust to accept that it treated him poorly and to apologise. He also wants the Trust to explain its actions.

6. Mr O is in his thirties. He was diagnosed with ADHD as a child.

7. Throughout his twenties, Mr O experienced depression, anxiety and ADHD symptoms. As a result of his worsening symptoms in 2018, he contacted his GP for referral to an ADHD specialist.

8. Between April and June 2018 he had treatment from the Trust’s ADHD service.

9. Mr O complained to the Trust on 5 August 2022. The Trust sent its final response on 3 November. Mr O brought his complaint to us on 15 September 2023.

10. After his complaint to the Trust he got a second opinion and an adult ADHD diagnosis in October 2022.

13. The law says we can only investigate complaints that have been brought to us within one year of the person becoming aware of a problem. We can put this time limit to one side, but only if we see good reason to.

14. Mr O says the date he knew he had reason to complain was as events were happening in 2018. He was aware at the time of his right to complain.

15. Mr O told us he knew all along he had grounds to complain but felt at the time that everyone within the adult ADHD service were trying to avoid the second opinion. He says he felt a complaint would be a complete waste of time and the Trust would probably just ignore it. He added that due to his ADHD, complaints and responding to detailed emails and things that need focus, are things he struggles with. He says he did request a complaint form at the time but never got around to filling it in. He repeated his main reason for not progressing with a complaint was that he thought it would be a waste of time.

16. We asked Mr O what, if anything, changed in his circumstances which meant he was able to make his complaint when he did. He said nothing changed, he just did not know what else to do and felt he needed to try that route.

17. We also asked Mr O what his reason was for the ten month delay between getting the Trust’s response in November 2022 and bringing the complaint to us in September 2023. Mr O says he did not know he could escalate the complaint. He says as he is not good with processing written information, he missed the information about bringing the complaint to us. He says it is only after he spoke to Healthwatch (an advocacy service), that they advised him to come to us and referred him to the Trust’s complaint response for details of our service.

18. Mr O made his complaint to the Trust three years and ten months after he became aware he was unhappy with its care between April and June 2018. He then brought the complaint to us a total of four years and ten months after the events.

19. We have not seen good enough reason to put to one side the long period between Mr O knowing something was not right and making his complaint. It is clear from Mr O’s account he has been through a difficult time. We are sorry to hear about what happened and how this had a lasting impact on him.

1. We have carefully considered Mr O’s complaint about Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust). We are sorry to hear about his difficult experience. We understand how challenging managing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can be and the impact symptoms have on a person’s life.

2. Unfortunately, the complaint falls outside of our 12-month time limit. We have carefully considered the circumstances of the complaint and listened to the reasons for the delays Mr O told us about. We have not seen strong reasons to put our time limit to one side. We explain our decision in more detail below.