Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust

4. Mr U explains his husband’s health declined while he was an impatient at the Trust in May 2023.

5. He complains the Trust did not contact him until 2.51am, despite his husband’s health starting to deteriorate almost three hours before and knowing he lived a good distance from the Trust. This meant he was unable to be with his husband when he passed away and he missed his death by ten minutes. Earlier that day, the Trust had encouraged Mr U to go home.

6. Mr U says the Trust prevented him from seeing his husband at certain times, despite him being very unwell.

7. Mr U says that he must live knowing that he missed the opportunity to be there when his husband died. He has since been clinically diagnosed with depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a panic disorder and cervical dystonia (a rare condition where the muscles in your neck contract involuntarily).

8. Mr U would like an apology, service improvements and a financial payment.

10. 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 do not consider whether legal action would succeed, but whether it would be a reasonable option to look in to.

11. We have discussed Mr U’s complaint with him and the outcomes he wants to achieve. We also asked if Mr U has considered or started the process of legal action before and if there are any barriers that would prevent this from being an option for him.

12. Mr U said he has enquired about taking legal action and it has either been too expensive or solicitors were not interested in the case because of their own financial reasons. He sees these reasons as barriers to him taking legal action.

13. We shared our guidance on financial remedy with Mr U and he felt his case falls into level five and is linked with a recommendation of £3,000 to £9,950 to put right the impact of what happened.

14. Due the nature of Mr U’s complaint, how he says he has been affected by what happened and the financial outcome he is looking for, we think it would be reasonable for him to continue exploring the legal process and to make a claim under Section 1 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1934.

15. It is also important to note that service improvements can be achieved as a by-product of legal action. So while a court will not recommend an apology or service improvements, the Trust may take these actions as a result of a successful claim.

16. Mr U may wish to explore legal action while he is still within the three-year time limit to do this.

17. We recognise that making a complaint or claim can be emotionally challenging. With legal action, a dedicated legal professional is assigned and they have an interest in winning the case.

18. It may be possible for Mr U to use a solicitor or organisation on a ‘no win, no fee’ basis.

19. For the reasons explained above, we think it is reasonable for Mr U to explore his legal options.

20. If Mr U’s legal action does not go ahead, he is able to come back to us but he must explore the legal route first. If there are no ‘no win no fee’ solicitors willing to take this case on and Mr U cannot fund the claim himself, then we may reconsider if legal action is reasonable.

21. If Mr U needs to return to us, he should do this as soon as possible. This is because of our specific time limits. Our time limit is clear that complainants must come to us within a year of when they first became aware of the issues being complained about. If a complaint comes to us outside of this, we look at the reason for the delay and may decide not to investigate.

22. We are sorry to hear of the events that led to Mr U’s complaint. We understand how distressing this continues to be and appreciate the efforts he has made in bringing his complaint to us.

1. We have carefully considered Mr U’s complaint about Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust). We are sorry to hear how he has been affected by the issues he complains about and about the sad loss of his husband. It is clear it has been an upsetting experience, which continues to impact his everyday life.

2. We think it is reasonable for Mr U to continue to explore taking legal action on the matters he has brought to us. We will explain the reasons for our decision in this statement.

3. Complaints give us valuable insight into the organisations we investigate, so we would like to thank Mr U for sharing his experience with us.