A practice in the Solihull area

3. Mr A complains that on 1 September 2024, the Practice failed to correctly diagnose deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in his right leg.

4. He says that as a result of this the DVT progressed to a pulmonary embolism (blood clot on the lungs), resulting in Mr A having chest pains and being hospitalised urgently. Mr A suffered pain and swelling in his leg and discolouration in his ankle which he still has. He remains on anti-coagulant (anti-clotting) medication. It has also had a financial effect on him.

5. Mr A seeks apologies and acknowledgment of the errors, system improvements and learning and financial compensation.

6. Mr A says that around July/August 2023, he had a bout of COVID-19. He had a lot of body aches and pains because of this. He noticed that even after he had recovered from COVID-19, he continued to have aches and pains in his legs.

7. Mr A noticed swelling in his right leg and some blue discoloration on his ankle. He says his wife measured his legs and noticed a 2cm difference between the legs. As Mr A and his wife had planned a short break involving a long drive, he became more concerned about the leg pain being a sign of DVT so decided to get it checked out before they went away.

8. On 1 September 2024, Mr A had an appointment at the Practice and was seen by an advanced nurse practitioner (ANP).

9. Mr A told the ANP that he suspected that it was DVT. He says the ANP spent 10 to 15 minutes examining him. They measured the legs and said there was no difference between them, and the discolouration was not too severe. Mr A says the ANP told him they suspected it was tendonitis, however because of the symptoms Mr A was reporting, they would get a second opinion from a GP.

10. Mr A says the GP entered and gave him a very quick examination. The GP felt his calf and inner right thigh and said there seemed to be some tightness. Mr A says the GP agreed with the ANP’s diagnosis and they advised him to take painkillers.

11. Mr A says that on this basis, he decided to go ahead with the short break with his wife. He says he drove for three hours to their destination. After coming out of the car, he felt extreme pain and was unable to put weight on his leg. He said he spent the week, hopping around on one leg, unable to enjoy the holiday because of the pain.

12. Mr A says that at around 3am on 18 September 2023, he awoke with chest pains. He woke his wife and they called 111. He says they were advised to see his GP in the morning. He called his Practice in the morning and managed to get an appointment on the same day with a doctor at a different Practice, under the same group.

13. Mr A says that on examination the GP told him he needed to get to the hospital immediately and gave him an urgent referral.

14. Mr A says the hospital confirmed he had DVT which had caused a pulmonary embolism. He says he spent four nights in hospital and remains under the care of a specialist. As the condition had advanced, he had had to remain on anti-coagulants. He continued to have discoloration of the ankle and the swelling on the leg.

17. 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 Mr A to understand his circumstances and the outcomes he wants. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look in to.

18. In general terms, clinical negligence takes place when a patient who underwent treatment becomes injured because of that treatment. Failure to carry out appropriate treatment can also amount to negligence. This is a legal term that we cannot provide a ruling on.

19. Mr A says the Practice failed to assess him correctly, misdiagnosing the DVT as tendonitis, causing the condition to progress to a pulmonary embolism and an inpatient stay at the hospital.

20. Mr A says he has not sought legal advice as his primary aim was making sure that the Practice recognise its mistakes and prevent them from happening again. However, he said there has been a financial effect on him, so he wanted financial compensation.

21. We asked Mr A how much compensation he is seeking. We sent him our Severity of Injustice scale which we use to help us decided on amounts of financial remedy. He placed himself at a level 5 with some aspects of level 6; these being the highest levels on our scale which can reach over £10,000.

22. We need to consider whether a court or tribunal could provide a remedy for the matter complained about. In this case, it appears that a court could provide a financial remedy. While there is no specific legal route to achieve service improvements or apologies, should a legal claim be successful then these might be achieved as a by-product of this.

23. We have also considered that clinical negligence claims are subject to strict time limits following the date of the claimant’s knowledge of injury. Mr A therefore has limited time to pursue legal action if legal advice confirms he has a claim. We would not wish him to lose his opportunity to explore this option.

24. We are satisfied that it is reasonable that Mr A pursues the possibility of taking legal action. We have discussed this with Mr A to ensure he understands the reasons for our decision. When we spoke to him, he did not tell us about anything that would prevent him taking this course of action. Should an alternative legal remedy not be possible, he can contact us again.

25. Any later approach would be subject to us considering the time limits set for us, along with our discretionary powers to set this to one side. Mr A should therefore ensure he fully considers his legal options and returns to us without any unnecessary delay if he needs to.

26. We hope that our explanations have reassured Mr A about our decision, and he is able to pursue the outcomes he is seeking. We are sorry to hear about the ongoing issues with his health since his DVT.

1. We have carefully considered Mr A’s complaint about a practice in the Solihull area (the Practice), and we understand the importance of the issues he has complained about. We can see this has been a distressing time for him.

2. We have considered the evidence and have decided that Mr A could take legal action to achieve the outcomes he is seeking. We will therefore take no further action on the complaint at this time. We hope our explanations below give some reassurances about our decision and the reasons for it.