A practice in the Gloucestershire area

3. Miss E complains about the care the Practice provided on 8 October 2022. Specifically, she complains:

• the Practice did not check her swollen lymph nodes on her neck and behind her ear during several appointments at the Practice

• the Practice did not share with her the blood test results regarding her thyroid levels

• the Practice did not provide her with her urine sample results

• the Practice did not refer her to ear, nose and throat specialists.

4. Miss E says because of this, she has suffered financially as she has had to travel abroad for private appointments. Her personal life has been affected as she had to stop her university studies to try and resolve her health issues.

5. Her mental health has been affected as she has ongoing issues stemming from the lack of care from the Practice and is planning to see a psychologist.

6. She further says her health has been affected as her issues were not investigated at the time she asked the Practice to, resulting in her having to get her tonsils removed which could have been avoided if looked at properly sooner.

7. Miss E would like an apology from the Practice, financial compensation including a refund of her flights, hotel bookings and medical appointments abroad, as well as service improvements to prevent the likelihood of similar incidents happening again.

8. Miss E says she complained to the Practice about several issues that she only realised were problems when she visited a private clinic abroad. She visited the Practice to get her swollen lymph nodes on my neck and behind her ear checked. She says most of the time the GP at the Practice would not inspect them and say it is nothing to worry about.

9. Miss E also wanted her thyroid levels checked as she thought they were low. She says the Practice said they are fine but she did not have sight of her blood test results. Miss E says she also attended the Practice to provide urine samples as her urine had an offensive smell. She says she did not receive a result for these samples.

10. Miss E says due to the lack of care provided by the Practice she had to go abroad to a private clinic who completed a full blood and urine test and sent her to see an ear, nose and throat specialist. Ildiko says the private clinic has said her tonsils are chronically inflamed and they need to be removed.

12. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint if there is, or was, a legal remedy that the aggrieved could pursue or could have pursued, unless it is (or was) not reasonable for them to do so.

13. Miss E says she complained to the Practice about several issues that she only realised were issues when she visited a private clinic abroad.

14. NHS Resolution’s website explains ‘If the treatment you received fell below a minimum standard of competence and you suffered an injury as a result, and it is more likely than not that the injury could have been avoided or less severe with proper treatment then you may be able to take legal action for compensation.’ This is referring to the legal cause of action of medical negligence.

15. Miss E says the Trust failed to treat and diagnose her correctly, and this resulted in her having serious ongoing health issues that could have been worse had she not sought treatment abroad. She says this has affected her mental health and has traumatised her to the extent of being unable to trust any NHS service.

16. Given the circumstances of the complaint, it appears Miss E may be able to pursue her case via a clinical negligence claim. This route could achieve the financial remedy she seeks.

17. Miss E is seeking financial compensation due to the amount of money she had to spend on getting treatment abroad, which she believes should have been completed in the UK had her surgery correctly treated her.

18. We asked Miss E how much financial compensation she is seeking, and we sent her a copy of our severity of injustice scale. Having reviewed this, Miss E told us that she would settle for no less than £3,000 in compensation. This cost includes refunds of flights, hotel costs and private treatment in a different country outside of the UK. These are not areas PHSO would look to redress in compensation.

19. After our first call Miss E was unsure on how much compensation she was seeking, and firstly said a few thousand pounds. However, she then went onto explain that she is not sure if there will be further costs of treatments in the future as well, therefore she explained the sum could be much larger than £3,000.

20. We then explained that we would not want to disadvantage her complaint if she could achieve a large amount of financial compensation. We also explained that if she were to be unsuccessful or could not get legal representation, she can bring her case back to us for us to continue our assessment.

21. We asked Miss E if she had considered a clinical negligence claim and any reasons as to why she would be unable to proceed with a claim. Mrs E did not make us aware of any reasons she could not proceed with a clinical negligence claim.

22. Miss E did not tell me about any other practical barriers, such as a fear of attending court which would make this process difficult. An apology could be achieved through the court process as a secondary outcome.

23. The complaint is also within the three-year time limit for making a legal claim.

24. Miss E has not sought advice from a solicitor however she was open to doing this once we had discussed it.

25. Taking all this into account, it appears reasonable and proportionate for Miss E to first explore whether they can pursue this complaint via a legal process.

26. Although some aspects of her complaint may not be suitable for ALR, it would be better to keep the case together as a whole whilst seeking legal advice, and if any components are not addressed through the ALR process Miss E can return to us with any outstanding or unaddressed concerns.

27. We will provide details of AvMA and Advocate as places to seek advice. We will provide Miss E with the contact details of these organisations within our primary investigation cover letter.

1. We have carefully considered Miss E’s complaint about a practice in the Gloucestershire area​​ (the Practice).

2. We have decided not to look into the complaint further. This is because we consider it is reasonable for Miss E to address her concerns by seeking legal advice and/or taking legal action. We acknowledge the emotional and clinical impact the complaint has had on her. We are sorry to hear about her experience.