A practice in the West Northamptonshire area

3. Miss L complains the Practice: • failed to give blood test results • failed to diagnose thyroid issues sooner • missed opportunities to provide treatment for Graves' Disease (an autoimmune disease that causes a condition where the thyroid gland creates too much thyroid hormone in the body) and Graves' Eye Disease (swelling around the eyes that makes them bulge).

4. Miss L says her daughter struggled for years and her mental health was affected. She also says her daughter will never be able to achieve certain life goals because of the condition.

5. Miss L wants a financial payment and for the Practice to acknowledge its failings and apologise.

6. Miss I was in her early teens at the time and has been under the care of the Practice since 2021.

9. The law 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 Miss L to understand the circumstances and the outcomes she wants. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look into.

10. In general terms, clinical negligence takes place when a patient who had treatment becomes injured as a result and where they are looking for compensation. Failure to give appropriate treatment could also amount to negligence.

11. Miss L made it clear to us that she thinks a failing in the duty of care led to Miss I’s deterioration and her sight was affected. She says her daughter will be on medication for the rest of her life. She is keen to achieve a large financial payment. It seems that a clinical negligence claim is an available route for her.

12. In deciding whether it is reasonable for a person to take legal action, we consider the availability of legal action and if there are any barriers to someone taking this route.

13. During our discussions with Miss L she confirmed she intends to take legal action, if necessary. But, she wanted guidance from us first. We appreciate this but must follow the law and check if legal action is available and should be explored before we can investigate. There do not seem to be any barriers to Miss L looking into legal action. We are also very conscious that legal time limits can be strict and we do not want Miss L to miss her opportunity to explore this option.

14. We also consider what outcomes are wanted and what we may be able to do. . Miss L told us she wants £10,000 minimum. From what we have seen so far, it is unlikely that we would be able to recommend this amount if we investigated and found failings linked to an injustice. The amount we would be likely to recommend would be much less.

15. A court can independently review Miss L’s concerns and decide whether there was any negligence. It can award compensation. Courts cannot directly order organisations to acknowledge failings or apologise, but these things can happen as an indirect result of the legal process. Legal action could resolve, or at least partly resolve, Miss L’s concerns. It seems unlikely that we would be able to achieve what Miss L wants.

16. In summary, we have decided it is reasonable for Miss L to explore taking legal action and we will not consider Miss L’s complaint further at this time.

17. If Miss L is unable to take legal action, or it does not achieve everything she wants, she can ask us to consider her complaint again. At that point, we would need to carefully consider the outcome of any legal action, whether we can achieve the outcome(s) and what had happened since we last looked at the complaint.

18. The time limit set for us by law would still apply (one year). We could only set this aside if there is good reason to. We would need to see that Miss L has actively looked into legal action with no unexplained delays.

1. We have carefully considered Miss L’s complaint about a GP practice in the Northamptonshire area (the Practice). We are sorry to hear about the experience she and her daughter, Miss I, had and we recognise they have been through a difficult and distressing time.

2. We think Miss L could take legal action on the matter she has brought to us. We are sorry for any distress this decision may cause and hope our explanation is clear.