North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust

3. Mrs L complains about the following aspects of care the Trust provided to her late husband, Mr L, between 27 December 2021 and 5 January 2022:

• the Trust inappropriately moved Mr L out of the intensive care unit on 29 December • the Trust did not start treatment when Mr L began to experience symptoms of rigidity and stiffness on 30 December, indicating he had a neurological condition • the Trust failed to perform an MRI scan to check her husband’s neurological status as recommended by another hospital several days before his death • the Trust’s decision to transfer her husband to another hospital without her consent or knowledge. Mrs L says the Trust did not follow protocols in reaching this decision and questions if it gave the receiving hospital full details of Mr L’s condition • the Trust not proactively providing updates or adequate details after Mr L’s admission including how unwell he was • that due to COVID-19 she was unable to visit Mr L but the Trust did not facilitate communication between them during his stay, including a video call.

4. Mrs L believes her husband died due to inadequate care from the Trust. She says the failings meant Mr L’s stroke went undiagnosed and the Trust inappropriately transferred him to another hospital. She feels that had they caught this sooner, it may have stopped things progressing to a more serious stage. Mrs L says she is heartbroken by the loss of her husband.

5. Mrs L also tells us that having to make over a 100-mile trip to see Mr L towards the end of his life made a difficult situation much worse. She says the Trust’s poor communication added to this as she believed Mr L would make a full recovery.

6. As an outcome to her complaint, Mrs L would like the Trust to acknowledge its failings, apologise, and make service improvements. She would also like financial compensation.

8. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint where a 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 Mrs L to understand her circumstances and the outcomes she wants. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look in to.

9. When Mrs L first raised her complaint with us, she told us she wants to make sure the same mistakes never happen to anyone else as an outcome to her complaint. After further discussion she also agreed she would like us to consider an acknowledgement of failings, an apology and financial compensation.

10. Mrs L told us although she had contemplated taking legal action regarding her complaint in the past, this is not something she feels she could do. Mrs L advised us the thought of undergoing court proceedings to relive all the details of her husband’s death would be too unbearable. She says she is not emotionally strong enough to deal with this and is still taking medication for post traumatic stress disorder.

11. Mrs L also advised us she approached one solicitor who declined to take her case further. Mrs L sent us a copy of the solicitor’s letter. In this letter, it explained it felt there was insufficient time to pursue Mrs L’s claim before the deadline, known as limitation.

12. The solicitor explained that in most cases, court proceedings must be commenced within three years from the date of the diagnosis. It advised Mrs L that she may wish to seek a second opinion.

13. We have carefully considered all Mrs L’s reasons for not wanting to pursue legal action. We understand Mrs L’s concerns about the legal process and how daunting this may seem.

14. If pursuing legal action through the courts, Mrs L would have a dedicated legal professional to represent her. This would not necessarily be more difficult than pursuing her concerns through the complaint process. We also note that Mrs L only recently approached a solicitor which suggests she is open to taking legal action.

15. We understand Mrs L’s concerns about the costs involved in taking legal action. As there are no win no fee solicitors who may be able to take on her case, we feel it would be reasonable for Mrs L to explore this option further.

16. In addition, the events Mrs L complained to us about occurred between 27 December 2021 and 5 January 2022. It has therefore been less than three years since the events occurred. As such, we feel it would be reasonable for her to seek some second opinions on this, as advised by the solicitor in its letter to her.

17. If Mrs L is unable to gain legal representation, she may return her complaint to us for further consideration. She should do this as soon as possible as there are time limits for bringing complaints to us. We can put our time limit to one side if it is reasonable to do so.

1. We were very sorry to hear of the death of Mr L and the impact this has had on Mrs L. We were also very sorry to hear of the concerns Mrs L has about Mr L’s care and treatment. We can see these issues continue to affect Mrs L to this day.

2. We have carefully considered Mrs L’s complaint about the Trust. We consider Mrs L could take legal action on the matter she has brought to us. We know this will be a disappointing decision to Mrs L. We have explained our reasons for this below.