Isle of Wight NHS Trust

3. Mrs H complains that GPs from the Practice neglected her mother’s care for several months following her cancer diagnosis. She says they refused to attend a home visit. She also complains about the actions of the cancer nurses working for the Trust. She says nurses left her mother in pain, without a plan and did not act in response to a serious infection.

4. Mrs H believes her mother’s death was avoidable. She wants the organisations to apologise for the impact their failings had. She wants them to improve services. She also seeks a significant financial payment to help her father with the loss of her mother’s income.

6. 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 H 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.

7. In our conversation with Mrs H we discussed the outcomes she would be satisfied with if we were to uphold her complaint. She was clear that, while she would appreciate a more detailed explanation about what happened and service improvements, the main aim for her was to receive a significant compensation payment.

8. Mrs H confirmed she intended to seek legal advice following our conversation. In view of this we cannot start a detailed investigation of her complaint.

9. We can see how upsetting these events have been for Mrs H and her family. We are sorry we cannot help them on this occasion.

1. We have carefully considered Mrs H’s complaint about the Practice and the Trust. Mrs H complains about aspects of the care and treatment clinicians from both organisations gave to her mother Mrs S. She believes failings led to her mother’s death. We can see how devastating these events have been for Mrs H and her family. We offer our sincere condolences to them for their loss.

2. We have decided not to start a detailed investigation because we consider Mrs H could take legal action about the matter she has brought to us. We recognise this will be disappointing for Mrs H.