Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

3. Mrs E complains on behalf of her mother, about the following issues: • the Trust allowed Mrs I to fall from the bed while she was on the ward, and that she broke a rib due to this fall • the Trust did not inform her that Mrs I had fallen.

4. Mrs E says the Trust’s actions have caused Mrs I to no longer sleep in her bed, and she needs to lie down as she gets swelling in her ankles. Mrs E also says the Trust’s actions caused her unnecessary stress. She says Mrs I now needs ongoing care as a result of the injuries she sustained in the fall. This has had a financial impact on the family.

5. As an outcome to the complaint, Mrs E is looking for a financial remedy.

6. In November 2023, Mrs I was admitted to hospital following a fall in her home. Shortly after admission she became unresponsive. The Trust transferred Mrs I to critical care for several days.

7. After returning to the ward Mrs I’s family were concerned she could not stand or walk on her own. On 22 November 2023, a cleaner told Mrs E’s husband that Mrs I had fallen the previous night.

9. 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 E 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.

10. In Mrs E’s complaint form, she wrote she was planning to take legal action and that she was waiting to hear from us before she makes a decision on this. Mrs E wrote on the complaints form she was seeking financial remedy of level 6 of our severity of injustice scale (£12,500+).

11. We spoke with Mrs E on 1 October 2024, and she confirmed she was seeking financial compensation at level 6 of the severity of injustice scale. She said she was seeking £12,500 to compensate her for the injuries and cost of Mrs I’s ongoing care. Mrs E complains Mrs I suffered physical harm because of poor care.

12. Mrs E has a potential remedy by way of proceeding in a court of law. She may have a claim of clinical negligence available to her. This is because she says Mrs I’s injuries are a result of poor care by the Trust. Mrs E could look to a court to establish if the Trust breached its duty to take care of Mrs I.

13. Mrs E has indicated that financial remedy is a priority in the outcome she is seeking. A legal route is focused on achieving financial remedy so might provide this for her. Mrs E is seeking a large sum of financial remedy and ongoing costs, pursing legal action would not be considered disproportionate to the amount of legal remedy sought.

14. In keeping with the law, we think it is reasonable for Mrs E to explore her legal options. This is because she may have a legal remedy available to her, and legal remedy is something she has expressed on her complaints form as something she has an intention to do.

15. When we spoke with Mrs E on 1 October 2024, she said she had not approached any legal professionals to look at her case. Mrs E said she thought there was a three-month time limit to be able to take her complaint to be considered for legal remedy. Mrs E also said she had not proceeded with legal remedy as she did not know where to start on who to talk to, and that she did not want to pursue legal action if this meant her complaint went outside our 12 month time limit. Mrs E said she was told to come to us, and she would not accept us not looking at the case when we tried to discuss legal remedy with her.

16. On 3 October 2024, we followed up our phone discussion with Mrs E with an email as agreed. We outlined Mrs E's concerns regarding legal remedy and addressed the barriers she had said during the phone call. The email asked Mrs E to let us know if she had any concerns following the email. Mrs E has been quick to respond to emails and communication requests, she has not replied further to the email regarding alternative legal remedy.

17. The time limit for pursuing clinical negligence claims is three years, so Mrs E is in time for this. We have given Mrs E information about how she can find a solicitor and establish if she can get professional representation in making a legal claim. We have seen no barriers to Mrs E taking legal action. We consider Mrs E should explore her legal options before we take any action in relation to her complaint.

18. If Mrs E does not achieve all the outcomes she is seeking via legal remedy, she can bring her complaint back to us and we could consider it as a new complaint. We would need to carefully consider the outcome of any legal enquires and outcomes she was seeking.

19. We would need to consider the time that has elapsed, as our time limits will still apply. The law says complaints should be brought to us within one year of when the complainant became aware of their concerns. We can put this time limit to one side if we consider it is reasonable to do so. It is important Mrs E takes legal advice (and returns to us if necessary) without any avoidable delays.

20. We acknowledge the time Mrs E has taken with her complaint and the frustration she has expressed trying to get an outcome. The financial remedy Mrs E seeks was discussed with her during a phone conversation and she remained adamant about the amount of financial remedy she is looking for and identified she had seen the severity of injustice scale. Given Mrs E is seeking a large sum of financial remedy and ongoing costs, we consider it is in her best interests to take legal advice in the first instance. For this reason, we will take no further action on the complaint at this time.

1. We have carefully considered Mrs E’s complaint about the care provided to her mother, Mrs I, by Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. We are sorry to hear of the difficult circumstances surrounding her complaint to us. We understand Mrs I’s fall in hospital has led to a significant impact on the family.

2. We have decided to take no further action on this complaint, as we consider Mrs E could pursue her concerns through legal action. It is likely the only way for Mrs E to achieve the outcome she is seeking is via a legal route. The amount of financial remedy Mrs E seeks is likely significantly in excess of what we would usually recommend in a case like this. We acknowledge it has been a challenging time for Mrs E and her mother. We hope Mrs E is able to achieve the outcome she is seeking via legal action.