South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

3. Mrs P complains about the care the Trust provided to her son, Mr R, on 11 April 2022. She complains the Trust did not provide acceptable or appropriate care.

4. Mrs P tells us the poor care they witnessed caused her and her family immense distress. She says the poor care has exacerbated her grief and the trauma they have experienced since her son’s death. She says had he arrived at hospital sooner he may have had a better chance of survival.

5. Mrs P would like an independent investigation and service improvements.

6. On the 11 April 2022 Mrs R called 999 as her husband Mr R was unresponsive. He very sadly died in the early hours of 12 April from a cardiac arrest.

7. On 25 July 2022 Mrs P complained to the Trust about the care it provided to her son. It provided Mrs P with a written response to her concerns on 28 September 2022.

8. On 1 March 2023 Mrs P contacted the Trust to say she would like the opportunity to meet with the Trust to discuss her concerns at a meeting. The meeting took place on 28 March 2023.

9. On 4 May the Trust wrote to Mrs P with its final response letter. It explained if she had further concerns these should be raised with us. Mrs P emailed the Trust the same day to raise further concerns.

10. As Mrs P had not received a response to her email from 4 May, she emailed the Trust again on 12 June. The Trust responded the same day and explained it had already provided its final response and directed Mrs P to contact us if she wanted to pursue her complaint further.

11. On 21 December 2023 Mrs P brought her complaint to us.

14. The law says a person needs to make their complaint to us within a year of becoming aware of the problem. We cannot investigate complaints brought to us after one year, unless we consider there is a good reason to do so. We have discussed this with Mrs P to understand the reasons why she could not do so. We have also considered the time the Trust has taken to respond to Mrs P.

15. Mrs P is complaining about care the Trust provided to her son on 11 April 2022. We consider she was aware she was unhappy with the care provided by the Trust at the time of events. To meet our time limit for looking at a complaint, we would have expected her to bring the complaint to us by April 2023. She brought the complaint to us in December 2023, eight months later. We have considered the reasons why she did not bring the complaint to us sooner.

16. Mrs P first complained to the Trust on 25 July 2022. She then received a response from the Trust on 28 September. Mrs P did not contact the Trust again until 1 March 2023, five months later to express her concerns with the Trust’s response to her complaint.

17. We asked Mrs P why she did not contact the Trust for five months. She told us in August 2021 her husband underwent surgery on his knee. She told us in October 2022 his knee became infected, and he developed sepsis. She explained he was admitted to hospital and was treated in intensive care. She explained when he was discharged from hospital, he required a line be inserted to administer medication and required lots of care. Mrs P told us throughout this period she was unable to pursue the complaint further as she was caring for her husband.

18. We do not underestimate how difficult this time must have been for Mrs P for her to lose her son, and then for her husband to be critically ill. We understand caring for her husband was Mrs P’s priority at that time and we think it is reasonable that she did not pursue the complaint further until he had recovered.

19. Mrs P contacted the Trust on 1 March to request a meeting which took place on the 28 March. The Trust wrote to Mrs P on 4 May. In this letter the Trust said if Mrs P was not satisfied with the response, she should contact us.

20. Mrs P emailed the Trust the same day with further concerns and again on 13 June. At this point the Trust emailed her to say it had issued its final response on 4 May and she should contact us if she had further concerns. Mrs P did not contact us until 21 December 2023, seven months later.

21. We asked Mrs P why she did not bring the complaint to us sooner. Mrs P has told us she has lived and breathed this complaint since her son’s death, she said she cannot imagine she would have let seven months go by without pursuing the complaint further. She has told us she was still caring for her husband in this period of time as he has faced a long recovery and still requires surgery.

22. Mrs P has told us her mental health has suffered following her son’s death and it has made it hard for her to pursue the complaint given all she has been through. She also told us how unfair it is that she has had to wait for responses for months, but now we cannot look at the complaint because of delays.

23. We can see the Trust took several months to respond to Mrs P. We have carefully considered where there are gaps in the complaint being progressed during this time period however, and do not find it was delay by the Trust that caused her complaint to be outside our time limit.

24. We know from what Mrs P has told us she has had a very difficult time, and we are very sorry to hear of what she has been through. We have seen evidence she was able to pursue the complaint in May and June 2023 as she was contacting the Trust about the complaint in this period. We have not seen good reason why she did not bring the complaint to us sooner after the Trust told her it had issued its final response letter and signposted her to our service. Our legalisation on time limit is clear and we have not seen good reason to put the time limit to one side.

25. We are truly sorry to hear of Mr R’s death. We do not underestimate the effect this had on Mrs P and her family. We understand how much her complaint means to her and thank her for bringing this to us. It is clear it has been a very upsetting and challenging time. It is important we act in line with the law and our policy, and we regret any further upset our decision may cause. We hope that this statement clearly explains the reasons why we will not be considering the complaint further.

1. We have carefully considered Mrs P’s complaint about South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust). After considering the relevant information, we have decided the complaint falls outside of our time limit and we have decided there is no good reason for us to put our time limit aside to consider it further. We explain in this statement the reasons for our decision.

2. We were truly sorry to hear of your son’s sad death. It is clear from what Mrs P has told us she and her family have suffered greatly since his death and they have serious concerns about the care he received. We extend our sincere condolences to her for her loss.