3. Mr F complains between 14 February 2023 and March 2023 The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (the Trust):
• misdiagnosed him with cancer • did not provide appropriate aftercare following his surgery.
4. Mr F says the Trust caused him distress and unnecessary pain. Mr F says because of his breathlessness he had to move home which also impacted on him financially.
5. Mr F seeks an acknowledgement of wrong doing, service improvements and financial redress.
6. On 7 November 2022 a doctor at a different Trust told Mr F he had cancer in his left lung and would be placed on the lung cancer pathway.
7. Following further testing, Mr F saw the Trust’s consultant on 14 February 2023. Mr F says the consultant advised he had cancer in his left lung that needed removing. He says the consultant said if he did not have the surgery his life expectancy may only be 12 months and he would suffer a painful death.
8. Mr F had the surgery on 21 February 2023. He said he asked the consultant if it was cancer when they were on ward round and they said it definitely was. The Trust discharged him on 24 February 2023.
9. Mr F says following the surgery he had to do his own research about wound care. He says the Trust did not provide any after care or advice.
10. On 1 March 2023 he contacted the wound clinic who advised him to attend hospital as he had a suspected infection. On 7 March 2023 Mr F informed the Trust he had not been using his pain relief patches. Mr F was not aware he could use these alongside his other medication.
11. On 22 March 2023 the Trust wrote to Mr F advising he did not have cancer. He complained to the Trust on 22 May 2024 and it responded on 1 July 2024. Mr F complained to us on 9 July 2024.
14. We would like to start by saying our decision is not a reflection on or meant to belittle Mr F’s experience. We appreciate Mr F was and still is severely impacted by what happened to him. We are sorry to hear about the mental and physical suffering Mr F went through.
15. The law says a person needs to make their complaint to us within a year of becoming aware of the problem. We cannot investigate complaints brought to us after one year, unless we consider there is a good reason to do so. We have discussed this with Mr F to understand the reasons why he could not do so. We have also considered the time the organisation has taken to respond to Mr F.
16. When considering our time limit we think about when it was reasonable for a person to know there was an issue to raise. In Mr F’s case we consider he was aware of his concern about the Trust incorrectly advising he had cancer when it wrote to him advising he did not have cancer on 22 March 2023.
17. Mr F had until 22 March 2024 to complain to us within our time limits. Mr F complained around four months outside of our time limit.
18. The Trust discharged Mr F following his surgery on 24 February 2023. We are sorry to hear he felt dumped by the Trust for not providing after care and he was understandably in a lot of pain. Mr F was aware at that time the Trust did not provide him with after care advice. He had until 24 February 2024 to complain to us within our time limits. Mr F came to us around five months outside of our time limit.
19. We can set the time limit aside but only in exceptional circumstances where it was not possible for a person to come to us sooner. We discussed Mr F’s reasons for the delay with him to see if we can set the time limit aside.
20. Mr F said he had been anxious about his misdiagnosis. We understand he was also suffering with pain and breathlessness so complaining was not his priority then. He said he got the courage to complain with support from family, friends and healthcare professionals. We appreciate he had never complained before and did not feel he had the confidence.
21. Mr F said as he started to recover, he got angry and thinking how it could happen to other people. He said people were asking him if he complained but he did not know who to complain to and he did not want anything to do with the hospital.
22. It was sometime in 2024 when a friend of Mr F told him about the ombudsman. It was also sometime in 2024 a nurse told him to complain to the hospital.
23. We asked what prompted him to complain in May 2024 specifically. Mr F said his son said he would help him as he did not know how to use a computer. His son helped him complain to the Trust and then to us.
24. Mr F said for a long time he was not interested. We are sorry to hear he suffered the worst 16 months of his life. Some days he did not want to get up. He was physically and mentally unwell. Mr F said as he started to feel better, he thought 'it was those people who did this.' He felt cheated like the Trust ‘got away with it’.
25. We appreciate mental health issues are extremely difficult. Mr F told us he used to be extroverted and spend a lot of time socialising. He went from that to being nearly housebound and struggling to get out of bed. We do not underestimate how difficult that time was for him especially with physical health concerns on top of this.
26. We also must consider at the time Mr F complained to the Trust he was already outside of our time limit. A long time had passed since the events he was complaining about. This also means the time the Trust took to respond to the complaint did not cause the delay in Mr F coming to us.
27. It is a complainant’s responsibility to ensure they raise a complaint as soon as possible. We cannot consider not knowing how to complain as a sufficient reason to set the time limit aside as there are ways to find this information. As Mr F had support to bring his complaint from his son, we think it is reasonable to say he could have sought this support sooner from him or other friends, family or an advocacy service.
28. We are sorry Mr F never fully recovered following his surgery. Mr F had to move home after living there for a long time to try and avoid pollution to help with his breathlessness. We know that was not a decision taken lightly.
29. Mr F came to us outside of our time limit and we have not seen sufficient reason to put it aside. We thank Mr F for bringing his complaint to us. We cannot consider it further.
1. We have carefully considered Mr F’s complaint about The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust. We are sorry to hear about how Mr F was impacted since his surgery. We understand it was and is a difficult time.
2. The complaint falls outside of our time limit and we have not seen sufficient reason for us to put our time limit aside to consider it further.