George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust

4. Mr M complains that in April 2023 a consultant at the Trust dismissed his mental health diagnosis which he has had for over ten years. He also complains the specialist nurse he has been under the care of during this time for HIV treatment, supported the consultant saying there was nothing in his records about a mental health diagnosis.

5. Mr M says this has caused him anxiety, made him feel suicidal and he has lost confidence. He says he has now stopped his HIV treatment because he does not feel safe under the care of these two medical professionals.

6. Mr M says he wants compensation to reflect the psychological distress and the time he has lost working because of this. He also wants the two professionals involved to speak with him, acknowledge their actions, show an understanding of what went wrong and apologise. He says he would like to see the nurse’s role reviewed because he questions what skills or training they have had to make them a specialist nurse. Mr M also says he would like to see the consultant have more training on working with patients.

7. In April 2023 Mr M had a regular check-up at the Trust. He says a new consultant he had not seen before advised him he did not have an existing mental health condition. After this Mr M says his specialist nurse, who he saw for his HIV treatment regularly, agreed with the consultant that there was nothing in his records about mental health.

9. Before we decide if we should investigate a complaint, we look at whether there is an organisation that is better placed to deal with the concerns. We have considered whether another organisation is better suited to giving an answer to the complaint and whether it can provide the outcomes Mr M wants.

10. One of the main outcomes Mr M wants is specific action for the consultant and nurse involved in his care. The issues Mr M complains about should be investigated by professional regulatory bodies like the NMC and GMC. They investigate the conduct of professionals and fitness to practice.

11. Potentially NMC and GMC investigations could achieve the outcomes Mr M is looking for. We would not generally investigate a complaint when another organisation can investigate it.

12. For this reason, we think the NMC and GMC are better suited to consider Mr M’s complaint because of its powers to discipline and assess misconduct of licenced medical professionals.

13. After Mr M has approached the NMC and GMC, if he is still unhappy and wants us to consider any complaints about the Trust other than those about individual staff involved, he can come back to us. If he comes back to us, he should do this as soon as possible because we have a time limit for investigating complaints. We appreciate the distress and frustration Mr M has experienced and hope that NMC and GMC investigations can provide a satisfactory outcome for him.

1. We have carefully considered Mr M’s complaint about George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust (the Trust). We are sorry to hear about the circumstances that led him to bring the complaint to us.

2. We have decided Mr M has another route available to him to put right the impact of the events he complains about. As his complaints are about individuals, the General Medical Council (GMC) and Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) are better placed to investigate his concerns and address these.

3. We have explained our decision in detail below and hope this reassures Mr M about our decision.