East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

3. Mrs L complains about aspects of the care and treatment the Trust provided to her husband Mr L. Mrs L says the Trust failed to diagnose her husband’s rare brain condition when he was first admitted. Mrs L told us the Trust failed to obtain appropriate tests for Mr L which would have allowed it to diagnose him sooner.

4. Mrs L says the Trust’s failings meant her husband did not receive the treatment he needed soon enough and was denied the opportunity to prolong his life. Mrs L has told us of the catastrophic impact losing her husband has caused.

5. To resolve her complaint, Mrs L is seeking a finding of gross negligence, she wants the Trust to acknowledge its failings and implement service improvements to ensure this does not happen again to others. Mrs L is also seeking financial compensation.

7. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has the option to take legal action, unless we consider it is not reasonable for them to do so. We do not base our decision on how successful legal action would be. Rather, we consider whether legal action is a reasonable option for someone to pursue.

8. We discussed this with Mrs L to understand her circumstances and the outcomes she is hoping to achieve. Mrs L explained the various outcomes she seeks to resolve her complaint, including a finding of gross negligence be made against the Trust. We explained that this is not an outcome that could be achieved via an Ombudsman investigation and is better suited for the court to consider.

9. We have shared information with Mrs L relating to our guidance on financial remedy and discussed this with her. We have also explained to Mrs L what we need to consider if we think there is a possibility a complainant can take legal action. Mrs L has not told us how much compensation she is seeking but is aware we are not able to consider a complaint when legal action is being pursued.

10. Mrs L told us she wanted to pursue legal action and raised no barriers to doing so, financial, or otherwise. Having already started pursuing legal action, Mrs L is aware legal advice can be free of charge or offered under a conditional arrangement such as ‘no win, no fee’ services, which would not incur any upfront charges.

11. Mrs L says she would also like service improvements to ensure others do not suffer in the same way as her husband and an acknowledgement of failures. If the court does not achieve these outcomes for her, she may wish to return to us and ask us to investigate this for her.

12. Should Mrs L want to bring her complaint back to us, she should do so as promptly as she can. We ask that she returns to us without delay, within 1 month of completing her pursuit of legal action. Any delay means that we decide not to investigate.

13. We have considered the relevant factors and law. Mrs L could take legal action on the issues she has brought to us. We do not see any barriers to prevent Mrs L from pursuing legal action and we think it is reasonable that she does so. We have therefore decided not to consider the complaint further.

14. We recognise how important this matter is to Mrs L and the significance of the impact the events have had on her and her family. We thank her for bringing this complaint to our attention.

1. We have carefully considered Mrs L’s complaint about the way the Trust cared for her husband, Mr L who sadly died on 31 December 2022. We extend our sincere condolences to Mrs L and her family for their considerable loss. We were sorry to hear about the circumstances that led Mrs L to bring a complaint to us and the significant turmoil she has experienced.

2. After careful consideration, we have decided not to look at this complaint further. This is because we consider Mrs L could take legal action on the matter she has brought to us.