5. Mrs F complains the Trust did not make her or her husband aware of the risk of metastatic liver cancer while he was having treatment for eye cancer between June 2020 and November 2021.
6. Mrs F says Mr F’s diagnosis of metastatic liver cancer was a huge shock. She says if they had been better informed about the risk, they would have been better prepared to face it.
7. Mrs F would like the Trust to apologise and improve its services.
8. Mr F was diagnosed with choroidal melanoma (eye cancer) in June 2020. He had stereotactic radiosurgery (radiation beam surgery) in July. The treatment was successful but very sadly, Mr F developed lung and breast cancer in late 2020.
9. In November 2021, Mr F had a scan and a liver biopsy (where a sample of body tissue is taken for examination). He was diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer.
10. Mr F sadly died in January 2022.
12. Before we decide if we should do a detailed investigation of a complaint, we look at whether there are signs the organisation has got something wrong. We do this by comparing what should have happened with what did happen. We have done this and have not seen signs that something went wrong.
13. We considered what Mrs F told us and the information from the Trust. While we have not seen evidence of a specific conversation taking place between the Trust and Mr F, we have seen evidence of three times when the Trust mentioned the risk of metastatic liver cancer.
14. After Mr F’s eye surgery in July 2020, the Trust wrote to his GP and sent him a copy of this letter. The letter says, ‘As there is a risk of liver metastases we would recommend an abdominal ultrasound examination on a six monthly basis for at least five years.’
15. We can also see that on 27 July 2020, Mr F had an abdominal scan ‘to exclude liver metastases’. On 15 October, Mr F met with a consultant ophthalmologist (doctor specialising in eye conditions) who suggested they arrange an abdominal ultrasound ‘to exclude liver metastases’.
16. We cannot comment on how clear the information given to Mr F was. But, the evidence we have seen tells us it is more likely than not that the Trust made Mr F aware of the risk of metastatic liver cancer.
17. We accept Mrs F does not feel this way. Our role is to weigh up all the evidence available to us. Having done this, we have decided that on balance, there is no sign that anything went wrong.
18. We hope this statement reassures Mrs F that we have considered her complaint carefully and that it clearly explains our decision not to investigate the issue further.
1. We thank Mrs F for bringing her complaint to us. We recognise it is important to her and the effort she has made to share her experiences with us.
2. We have carefully considered Mrs F’s complaint that the Trust did not give her or her husband information about the risk of liver metastases (cancer that has spread from a primary site).
3. While we accept Mrs F’s account, the evidence we have seen shows the Trust shared information about liver metastases with Mr F on three occasions.
4. As we have seen no signs that anything went wrong, we have decided not to take further action.