A practice in the Manchester area

4.Miss L complains about aspects of the care and treatment she received from the Practice between September 2023 and February 2024. Specifically, she says:

• there was a lack of treatment for hair loss and the Practice did not refer her to specialists for treatment • the Practice removed her from the patient list.

5.Miss L tells us the events have led to significant hair loss which could have been avoided if the Practice referred her to specialists. She also explains she has been suffering with severe anxiety and depression as a result of the events. Miss L explained that she is now without a GP Practice which means she is now struggling to get help with her conditions.

6.By bringing a complaint, Miss L would like:

• £2,000,000 in compensation • an apology from the Practice • to be added back to the Practice patient list.

7.We have considered the following information when coming to a decision on this complaint:

• information provided by Miss L via telephone and her complaint form • correspondence between Miss L and the Practice.

8.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 was seeking.

9.We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look into.

10.Miss L explained she felt the Practice has directly contributed to significant hair loss due to the lack of treatment and because it refused to refer her to specialists. Miss L also explained the Practice caused her to feel severely anxious and depressed.

11.Miss L primarily wants significant financial compensation to put this right for her. Because Miss L believes the actions of the Practice have caused her significant harm, she could potentially take legal action to achieve the compensation she is seeking.

12.Miss L told us she wants £2,000,000 and that she feels strongly about this figure. This is a significant amount of compensation.

13.Miss L explained she spoke to a solicitor about potentially making a legal claim but was advised that she needs to approach us first. By law, we cannot investigate when there is an option to take legal action. Miss L confirmed she would be able to approach more solicitors to explore this option. In line with the law, we would expect this avenue to be exhausted before we can conclude there is a barrier to taking legal action.

14.We consider it is unlikely Miss L has a legal route for her complaint about the Practice removing her from the patient list. However, it is not proportionate for us to only look into this issue whilst Miss L explores legal action in relation to the main part of her complaint. The two complaints are linked as she believes her removal from the Practice is related to the challenges she made about how the Practice treated her. We also would not want to delay Miss L from seeking legal action due to the three-year time limitations on this. Miss L can bring this part of the complaint back to us following exploration of legal action if she chooses to.

15.In the event Miss L is unable to progress her complaint though the courts, she can come back to us for us to reconsider the circumstances. There is no guarantee on what we can do if she chooses to bring her complaint back to us.

16.Should legal action not achieve the outcomes Miss L is seeking and she wants us to reconsider the circumstances, she needs to bring the complaint back to us without any delays due to our time limit. We are only able to consider complaints which have been brought to us within 12 months of the date someone knew they had a reason to complain, unless there is a good reason for the delay.

17.In summary, Miss L confirmed there is no barrier to her exploring the possibility of taking legal action against the Practice. Because of this, we cannot say it is not reasonable for this to be pursued and are therefore unable to investigate the complaint. The courts can independently review the circumstances and decide whether there was any clinical negligence. It is possible that legal action could resolve Miss L's complaint.

1.We have carefully considered Miss L’s complaint a GP practice in the Manchester area (the Practice).

2.We understand the importance of Miss L’s complaint and acknowledge the impacts the events have had on her. We recognise it has been a difficult experience.

3.We are unable to investigate the complaint further as we consider Miss L could take legal action on the matter she has brought to us.