4. Mr N complains about the diagnosis the Trust made and the lack of patient centred support.
5. Mr N says the lack of support has made his mental health worse.
6. Mr N would like to get patient centred support. If this is not possible, he hopes to get a financial payment so he can access patient centred support.
8. The Health Service Commissioners Act 1993 says we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has (or had) the option to take legal action, unless we consider this is (or was) unreasonable in the circumstances. We discussed this with Mr N 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.
9. Mr N said he would consider legal action and he had contacted solicitors. We think a clinical negligence claim may be available to him. This is because he told us he experienced a deterioration in his mental health because of the Trust’s lack of healthcare.
10. As an outcome, Mr N would like to be helped in a patient centred way.
11. We cannot recommend that organisations give a specific treatment pathway. We can recommend that organisations make service improvements if we find failings and we hope this would mean they re-examine the way they provide care. But we cannot guarantee the Trust would provide Mr N with patient centred support.
12. Mr N said he would like a financial payment to help him to get patient centred support.
13. We shared ‘Our guidance on financial remedy’ and spoke to Mr N to understand the amount he wants. Mr N stressed the most important thing for him is to get patient centred support and he has not considered how much this might cost.
14. When making a clinical negligence claim, a court can make recommendations as well as financial compensation. We cannot assume that Mr N will not be able to get patient centred support by taking legal action. The Trust would likely do a route cause analysis (process to work out what caused the problem) and Mr N can ask his solicitor about this while taking legal action.
15. Mr N said he got legal representation from a solicitor on a ‘no win, no fee basis’. He was told he would need to pay a fee of £2,500 upfront. Mr N said he does not have the money to do this. Mr N also said the Trust recently made a financial payment to him for another issue linked to this complaint.
16. Solicitors can have different views on the prospects of a case and also offer different funding arrangements. We would expect Mr N to approach a few more solicitors to ask for legal representation to see if he is able to proceed with legal action. We feel it is in Mr N’s best interests to speak to a few more solicitors before he asks us to consider his concerns.
17. While we can recommend financial payments, the amounts we recommend are typically modest when compared with what can be achieved through legal action. Legal action would be the best route for Mr N to achieve his outcomes.
18. Our decision is not made without understanding the stressful circumstances Mr N has experienced. We appreciate this has been an upsetting time for him.
19. If Mr N is unable to take legal action after speaking to more solicitors, he can ask us to look at the complaint again.
1. We have carefully considered Mr N’s complaint about Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust).
2. We are sorry to hear about the events that led to his complaint. We can see after speaking with Mr N how deeply he was affected.
3. Mr N could take legal action on the matter he has brought to us, by making a clinical negligence claim.