19. The law says a complainant must bring their complaint to us within one year of becoming aware of a reason to complain. We can only put this time limit to one side if we think it is reasonable to.
Mr H’s wheelchair collapsed in October 2019
20. We have carefully considered our time limit for Mr H’s complaint that his wheelchair collapsed and snapped backwards on him, causing damage to his thumbs.
21. The events Mr H complains about happened in October 2019. For the complaint to be in time, he would have needed to complain to us by October 2020. He complained to us on 22 March 2023. He has made his complaint around two years and six months outside of our time limit.
22. In line with the law, we have considered whether it is reasonable for us to set aside our time limit. We discussed this with Mr H to understand the reasons why he did not bring the complaint to us sooner. We also considered the time the Trust took to respond to Mr H’s complaint about this.
23. Mr H complained to the Trust on 22 November 2021. The Trust confirmed it had received this on 23 December 2021. The Trust sent its response to Mr H’s complaint on 3 October 2022.
24. Mr H replied to the Trust with more concerns on 8 December 2022. The Trust sent its final response on 18 January 2023, where it explained it sent several responses before and it referred Mr H to us.
25. Mr H explained he complained to the Trust after he got the engineers report about the fault with the chair and what had caused it to flip backwards.
26. Mr H also explained he did not know how serious the injuries to his hands where until he saw the hand specialist in 2021. He explained when he got the report and had seen the hand specialist, he complained to the Trust.
27. We are sorry to hear what happened when Mr H’s wheelchair collapsed. We appreciate this would have been distressing for him.
28. We can see Mr H complained to the Trust on 18 March 2020 and referred to the wheelchair flipping backwards, but he did not specifically complain about the issue. Mr H did not mention about the wheelchair collapsing and the injuries he got until 22 November 2021.
29. When Mr H complained to the Trust, his complaint was already outside of our time limit. Because of this we do not think the time the Trust took to deal with his complaint was the reason why Mr H could not come to us on time.
30. We appreciate Mr H was not fully aware of the injuries to his hands until he went to the hand clinic in January 2021. We also realise Mr H did not get the engineer report until 1 June 2021.
31. Mr H explained he knew there was a problem with the wheelchair when it collapsed in 2019 and that there was a problem with his thumbs at the time. We would expect Mr H to complain about this much sooner.
32. And, after Mr H saw the hand specialist in January 2021, he waited another ten months before complaining to the Trust. It was also another five months after he got the engineers report that he made his complaint.
33. We have not seen strong reasons to put our time limit to one side in this case. Based on the above, we are unable to accept Mr H’s reasons for the delay in taking his complaint forward.
Giving Mr H the wrong wheelchair in 2020
34. The Trust confirmed it delivered Mr H’s wheelchair on 4 September 2020. Mr H confirmed he knew it was the wrong size. Mr H had several wheelchairs from the Trust before and had raised concerns about them being incorrect. When the Trust provided the wheelchair to Mr H on 4 September 2020, he would have known at this time it was incorrect.
35. For the complaint to be in time, Mr H would have needed to complain to us by September 2021. He complained to us on 22 March 2023. He has made his complaint around 18 months outside of our time limit.
36. We have again whether it is reasonable for us to set aside our time limit.
37. As referred to above Mr H complained to the Trust on 22 November 2021. The Trust sent its final response on 18 January 2023.
38. Mr H explained he got the report about the wheelchair in 2021 and was also in contact with the manufacturer at the time. From the information provided by the Trust, it sent him the report on 1 June 2021. He explained that after he got the report, in September 2021 he had an assessment for a new wheelchair which was a bigger size. Mr H confirmed after he got the report, he complained to the Trust.
39. The Trust explained it provided Mr H with a new ‘Action 3’ wheelchair on 4 September 2020, after he had reported problems with the backrest on the last wheelchair in June 2020. Mr H confirmed the Trust continued to give him the wrong size chair.
40. Mr H complained to the Trust about this wheelchair in November 2021. In total the Trust’s complaints process took over a year. We accept there was a delay by the Trust in responding to Mr H’s complaint.
41. Mr H complained to the Trust over one year after he would have been aware of a reason to complain, meaning his complaint was already outside our time limit. Mr H had complained to the Trust before on 18 March 2020 and it replied on 2 June. This would suggest he could have raised the issue with the Trust earlier, as he was already in contact with it.
42. Although the complaints process took a long time, it is not a strong reason to put the time limit to one side.
43. We appreciate Mr H waited until he got the report about his last wheelchair and had spoken with the manufacturer, before he raised the complaint.
44. Mr H had also brought a complaint to us before, in September 2020, that included concerns about his wheelchair. In June 2021 we issued our decision to him on that case. Our decision was that the case was out of time. Because of this, Mr H would have been aware of our time limit already.
45. Having carefully considered Mr H’s reasons for the delay and the time taken for the Trust to complete its complaints process, we have not seen strong reasons to put aside our time limit for this part of the complaint.