North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust

3. Ms K complains about the care and treatment North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust provided to her mother, Mrs K, during her admission from 23 May 2023 until she died on 9 June. Specifically, she complains the Trust: • did not properly supervise her mother which lead to her suffering two falls.

4. Mrs K died on 9 June due to a brain haemorrhage. Ms K feels this may have contributed to her avoidable death. This has caused immense distress and suffering.

5. Ms K is seeking an apology, acknowledgement of failings, service improvements and a financial remedy.

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.

9. We have discussed this with Ms K 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 into.

10. Ms K explained she came to us in the first instance and is considering taking legal action after we have considered the case. We explained our legislation sets out that somebody should pursue legal action first if this is an option for them. Ms K was unaware of this, and this is something she is willing to explore.

11. Regarding outcomes, Ms K is seeking a financial remedy. Legal action may be best placed to look to achieve a significant financial remedy. We recognise she is also seeking other outcomes, which may be a biproduct of legal action.

12. In speaking with Ms K, we explored if there were any barriers in her taking legal action. She currently hasn’t spoken to any solicitors and is willing to. Based on this we have not seen any significant barriers to exploring legal action. Ms K currently hasn’t exhausted this option and is seeking a financial remedy. Taking this all into account, alongside the law which governs us, we think it would be reasonable for Ms K to pursue a legal remedy.

13. Ms K can return to us if her circumstances change, if legal action is not successful, or if it does not achieve the outcome she is looking for.

14. We hope we have clearly explained the reasons for our decision and would like to reiterate our thanks to Ms K for taking the time to share her experience with us.

1. We have carefully considered Ms K’s complaint about the Trust. We were so sorry to learn of the reasons for her complaint and would like to extend our sincerest condolences for the very sad loss of her mother. We consider Ms K could pursue legal action on the matter she has brought to us.

2. We recognise how important Ms K’s complaint is to her and thank her for taking the time to contact us.