Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust

3. Mrs L complains Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust incorrectly stopped medication to treat her mental health condition during her admission in April 2023.

4. Mrs L says it delayed restarting the medication to July which led to a long hospital stay and has affected her mobility and mental health. She says she went back to the way she was before she started the medication which has turned her husband’s life upside down. She says it has impacted his mental health. Mrs L wants service improvements and a financial remedy.

5. Mrs L has history of mental health issues which were under control and being treated with quetiapine for several years. Quetiapine is an antipsychotic medication that treats several kinds of mental health conditions including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

6. On 18 April she collapsed at home and was admitted to the Trust with suspected urosepsis, which is a form of sepsis caused by infections in the tube leading to the bladder, the bladder, or the kidneys.

7. Mrs L was transferred to the Trust’s intensive care unit and the Trust stopped administering quetiapine on 21 April. After several months Mrs L was transferred to another hospital and in July it restarted quetiapine. She was then transferred to a care home where she stayed until May 2024 when she was discharged home.

9. 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.

10. We discussed this with Mrs L and her husband, Mr L, to understand her complaint, how the Trust’s actions impacted her, and what outcomes she is hoping to achieve.

11. Mr L explained that the Trust should not have abruptly taken his wife off quetiapine in April as this caused her to experience withdrawal symptoms and mentally regress 10 years. He said the Trust did not restart her medication and it was only when she was transferred to another hospital that it slowly reintroduced it. Mr L explained this led to a long hospital stay and the need for her to be cared for in a care home for several months before she could go home. He believes that had it not stopped the medication she would have been home within a couple of months instead of over a year.

12. Mr L explained they want service improvements and a significant financial remedy. He said they paid over £50,000 for care home fees which they want as much back as possible and in recognition of the impact this had on them.

13. From our conversation we can see that Mr and Mrs L believe the actions of the Trust led to Mrs L’s mental and physical health deteriorating which meant she needed to be cared for in a care home. This appears to be a claim of medical negligence that caused harm and may be better suited to the Courts process. Mr L said there were no barriers to them seeking legal advice.

14. We are satisfied at this time that the Courts are better placed to establish if the Trust were negligent and obtain compensation for the impact Mrs L has told us about. This could also achieve the service improvements as if the Courts find the Trust was negligent it will naturally reflect on this to learn and improve through its serious incident framework.

15. If Mrs L is not able to pursue legal action, she can bring her complaint back to us and we could consider it as a new complaint. At that point, we would need to carefully consider the outcome of any legal enquiries and the outcomes she was seeking.

16. We would also need to consider the time which has elapsed, as our time limits would still apply. It is therefore important that Mrs L takes legal advice without any avoidable delays.

17. We understand Mrs L’s experience has been difficult for her and her husband, which has affected their mental health. We hope this statement clearly explains our decision not to consider her complaint further at this time.

1. We have carefully considered Mrs L’s complaint about Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust (the Trust). We were sorry to hear about Mrs L’s experience. It is clear from what she has told us, it has had a lasting impact on her and led to a long stay in hospital then several months in a care home.

2. We consider Mrs L may be able to take legal action on the matter she has brought to us. We have considered the circumstances of her complaint and what she has told us and decided to take no further action for this reason. We are sorry for any additional distress this may cause but we hope our reasoning below explains how we have considered this and why we think this is the best way to achieve the outcomes she wants.