Barts Health NHS Trust

3. Miss A complains on behalf of her grandfather, Mr A, about the care and treatment provided to him by Barts Health NHS Trust (the Trust) between April 2023 and January 2024. She complains, after having an MRI scan on 17 April 2023, the Trust did not take action on the scan results until 26 January 2024, despite her grandfather and their family chasing the results several times.

4. She says during the wait for the results, his condition worsened as his nerves compressed and the pain increased. His mental health declined as he became depressed due to the pain and impact on his everyday life. She feels if he had the results and surgery sooner he would now have more mobility and use of his legs. She says the delay has also caused permanent nerve compression damage to her grandfather’s bowel and bladder, massively affecting his quality of life.

5. As a result of bringing this complaint to us, she is seeking an apology, explanation for the delay and financial compensation of at least level 5 of our severity of injustice scale.

6. Mr A first started suffering with back pain in 2006. By early 2023 it had worsened a lot and started to affect his legs. As pain killers were not helping he was referred for an MRI scan and he had this in April 2023.

7. In January 2024 the Trust called Mr A and shared the scan results. The scan identified he had cauda equina syndrome (compression on the nerves) and required urgent nerve compression surgery. The Trust sent an ambulance to Mr A due to their concern about his condition.

9. Miss A complained to the Trust on 5 February 2024. The Trust sent its response on 2 April 2024. Miss A brought the complaint to us on 4 April 2024.

11. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint where the person has (or had) the option to take legal action, unless we consider this is (or was) unreasonable in the circumstances. We have discussed this with Miss A to understand the circumstances and the outcomes Mr A wants. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look into.

12. Miss A says the Trust were negligent in their care of Mr A. She says he was denied treatment which could have improved his condition and the delay in returning the MRI scan results and carrying out surgery caused permanent and irreversible damage, in turn massively impacting Mr A’s quality of life.

13. In line with our legislation, we have considered whether it would be reasonable for Miss A to pursue legal action on behalf of Mr A, given the outcomes he is seeking.

14. Mr A is seeking at least top end level 5 of our severity of injustice scale. A court would be able to carefully consider and assess an appropriate amount of compensation for the impact the claimed failings had on Mr A. We would not want to disadvantage them by ‘under settling’ the complaint or proceed with an investigation, if we are not able to achieve the level of financial remedy they are looking for.

15. Mr A is seeking an apology, explanation and financial remedy of level 5/6 of our severity of injustice scale. While legal action would focus on financial remedy it may also provide other outcomes as a biproduct. Pursuing a clinical negligence claim could potentially achieve all of the outcomes Mr A seeks. Miss A has not made us aware of any barriers that would make it difficult or prevent her from pursuing legal action on Mr A’s behalf.

16. Taking all of this into account, we believe it is reasonable for Miss A to pursue legal action. We have decided not to consider the complaint further on these grounds. The courts can independently review the complaint and decide whether there has been a clinical negligence, and, if so, decide what amount of financial compensation would be appropriate. We hope this information helps Miss A progress the complaint and achieve the outcome she is seeking.

17. If Miss A finds she does not have a legal route, she may come back to us and we could potentially consider the complaint. We have advised her of our time limit and that she would need to return to us in a timely manner.

1. We have carefully considered Mr A’s complaint about Barts Health NHS Trust (the Trust). We were very sorry to hear about the circumstances of his complaint and the impact he and his family have endured.

2. We have decided not to consider Mr A’s complaint further. This is because we have decided it is reasonable for Mr A to pursue a legal remedy.