Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust

3. Mrs M complains about the Trust’s care and treatment of her daughter’s arm fracture. She complains the Trust:

• failed to diagnose the fracture correctly and that she needed surgery not just a cast • sent the physiotherapy referral to the wrong centre.

4. Mrs M says the Trust’s failure to diagnose the fracture correctly delayed Miss X’s surgery and caused her excessive pain, affected her overall recovery and her arm was left looking deformed. She also says the failure to send the physiotherapy referral to the correct centre delayed Miss X’s treatment.

5. Mrs M would like an apology, service improvements and a financial payment.

8. The law states we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has, or had, the option to take legal action, unless it is unreasonable for them to do this. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed, only whether it would be a reasonable option to look into.

9. Mrs M complains the Trust failed to diagnose Miss X’s fracture correctly, leaving her with excessive pain and a deformed arm. This falls under the scope of clinical negligence. Clinical negligence happens when avoidable mistakes are made that cause harm to the patient. Clinical negligence is a subject people can take to court.

10. Mrs M wants financial compensation as one of her outcomes, although she is not sure about the amount. Given the impact she has explained to us, it is likely that she wants more than we might recommend if we were to uphold her complaint. Mrs M would also like the Trust to apologise and make service improvements. Although legal action cannot order apologies or service improvements, it is possible for these to be achieved as by-products of legal action.

11. Mrs M has told us she is already pursuing her complaint with a solicitor. She said the solicitor is making progress with the case and has involved expert witnesses.

12. We think this is something she should continue to explore. Mrs M has agreed to do this so we will not be taking any further action on her complaint at this time. We thank Mrs M for taking the time to discuss her complaint and hope we have explained our decision clearly.

1. We have carefully considered Mrs M’s complaint about Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Trust (the Trust). Mrs M is already taking legal action and we think it is reasonable for her to continue with this. This means we will not consider the complaint further. We explain the reasons for our decision below.

2. We are very sorry to hear about Mrs M’s daughter’s, Miss X, experience and we recognise the pain and distress this caused. We appreciate it continues to be a worrying and difficult time for Miss X.