A practice in the Newham area

3. Mr B complains about the standard of care the Trust provided to his father, Mr C, in October 2023. He complains staff did not monitor his father and so they did not see when he had pulled out his oxygen tube. He says staff did not appear to have the adequate training to provide the care they were supposed to.

4. Mr B says his father had very low oxygen saturation levels after pulling his tube out and suffered repeat infections. He says his father went without the oxygen he needed and this caused him pain. Mr B believes this poor care may have hastened his father’s death. He and his family have suffered deeply since their loss.

5. Mr B seeks a full investigation, a financial remedy and service improvements so no one else has the same experience he and his family have endured.

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. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look in to.

9. As an outcome for his complaint, Mr B wants the Trust to improve its services and to pay financial compensation of around £10,000 or more in recognition of the failings in the care it provided to his father.

10. Mr B has told us he spoke to a solicitor last year and they said they would charge a lot of money to investigate his claim and he could not afford this. He said he still wants to try taking legal action and wishes to further explore this.

11. We consider Mr B could make a claim for clinical negligence because he says the Trust’s actions caused serious harm to his father. He could approach other solicitors for legal advice which can be free of charge. He could also consider legal representation through a ‘no-win-no-fee’ service which would not incur any upfront costs.

12. If Mr B would like further information about making a claim, the charity Action against medical accidents (AvMA) can provide advice. Its website has guides on this, and a solicitor search tool: https://www.avma.org.uk/help-advice/claims/

13. Should a solicitor take on Mr B’s case, a court could decide if Mr C’s care was negligent. If the claim is successful, the court could determine an appropriate amount of compensation for Mr B.

14. Mr B has also told us he also wants to make sure the Trust’s services improve. We consider it is possible service improvements could occur as a by-product of successful legal action.

15. If Mr B is unsuccessful in pursuing legal action or is unable to achieve the outcome he is looking for, he can bring his complaint back to us to consider. We cannot look at concerns a court has already examined, but we can consider if there is anything remaining we can look at, and if there are any other outcomes we may be able to achieve.

16. If Mr B decides to return to us, we ask he do so as promptly as possible. This is because delays may impact us being able to investigate the complaint.

17. In summary, we consider Mr B could achieve compensation through legal action. It is possible he may also achieve service improvements through this. We have not seen any reasons why Mr B cannot explore this route and he has agreed he wants to do this.

18. In-line with the Health Service Commissioners Act, we will not consider Mr B’s complaint any further at this time. We thank Mr B for bringing his complaint to us. We recognise how important this is to him and appreciate the time he has spent engaging with our service.

1. We have carefully considered Mr B’s complaint about Barts Health NHS Trust (the Trust). We consider Mr B could take legal action on the matters he has brought to us and so we will not take his complaint any further at this time.

2. Mr B has serious concerns about the care his father, Mr C, received at the Trust. We understand this has been a very difficult time for Mr B and we have been sorry to hear of his shock at seeing his father deteriorate so quickly. We extend our sincere condolences for his loss.