9. The Health Service Commissioners Act 1993 says we cannot investigate a complaint if there is a legal route available, unless we consider it is not reasonable for someone to take it. This is so we do not interfere with matters that should be dealt with by a court.
10. Mrs T told us her mother was admitted to the Trust for an X-ray of her head, after falling at home.
11. She told us she visited her mother the day after she was admitted, and she was not conscious and did not know where she was. She told us staff at the Trust gave her mother a glucose gel orally. She says her mother was unable to swallow it.
12. She says she visited her mother again the next day and she sounded very unwell. She says she was coughing and making gargling sounds, which gave the impression that she was drowning. She says she thinks the medication had been inhaled into her lungs.
13. She explained her mother’s condition was not investigated and her health declined because she did not get any treatment to prevent her death.
14. She says her mother’s death was avoidable and she now lives with the guilt of her death every day. We are sorry to hear about how much this continues to affect her.
15. Mrs T told us she is looking for a financial payment of over £10,000.
16. There is an available legal route which Mrs T could use to potentially achieve the financial payment she is looking for. She could make a clinical negligence claim against the Trust, as she is claiming the care and treatment fell below the expected standard.
17. We asked Mrs T if there any barriers that would make it difficult for her to take legal action. She explained a legal route may be expensive. We explained to Mrs T she could approach a ‘no-win no-fee’ solicitor to see if they would look at her case. Mrs T told us she was happy to explore this.
18. In summary, we think there is a legal route that Mrs T could take to achieve her desired outcome, and this is something a court is best placed to consider.
19. Mrs T can return to our service if she is unable to get legal representation, or if there are outcomes that a court was not able to achieve.
20. If Mrs T needs to bring the complaint back to us, we would advise she does so as quickly as possible. This is because we have a one-year time-limit (from the day a person became aware of their reason to complain) for accepting complaints. We can put this time-limit to one side if there are strong reasons to.
21. We recognise the death has devastated Mrs T and her family. We understand why Mrs T’s complaint is so important to her.