A practice in the Shropshire area

5. Mr B complains the Practice and the Trust delayed investigations into Ms B’s symptoms from 2020 to 2022, including a delay in referring her for a computerised tomography scan (CT scan – imaging technique used to obtain internal images of the body). He also complains the Trust did not provide her with treatment options quickly enough and during a hospital admission in March 2023, she received poor nursing care and a delay in receiving a blood transfusion.

6. Mr B says as a result of these issues, there was a delay in Ms B being diagnosed with kidney cancer which meant she had limited treatment options, and she died.

7. Mr B is seeking a financial remedy and to see service improvements.

8. Mr B says that Ms B had several appointments between 2020 and 2022, and the Practice and the Trust did not fully investigate the symptoms that she complained of. He says in 2022 she requested to have a CT scan and following this she was diagnosed with kidney cancer in September 2022.

9. He says the Trust did not provide her with the option for surgery quickly enough and then explained that surgery was not an option. In its complaint response, the Trust said that Ms B’s condition was rapidly deteriorating and any surgical or cancer treatment was unlikely to have been beneficial.

10. In March 2023, Mr B explains he took Ms B to the Trust for a same day blood transfusion, but this was delayed by over 12 hours, and she was left without a bed, and not offered anything to eat or drink.

11. Sadly, Ms B’s health deteriorated, and she died in July 2023.

14. 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 B 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.

15. Mr B could pursue a clinical negligence claim because he believes the delay in Ms B’s diagnosis and treatment, led to her death.

16. Mr B explained to us he is seeking a financial remedy and is hoping to achieve around £50,000. Whilst we are able to recommend a financial remedy if we uphold a complaint, the courts are also well placed to recommend this, and Mr B appears to be seeking a higher figure than we can normally recommend. He also believes that neglect caused his mother’s death and only a court can make a finding of clinical negligence.

17. Mr B also seeks service improvements. Although this may not be directly achievable through the courts, it could still happen as a result of a successful legal claim.

18. Mr B told us there are no barriers preventing him from pursuing legal action, and he is happy to try this route to gain the main outcome he wants of a financial remedy.

19. Based on what we have considered, we therefore think it would be reasonable for Mr B to pursue legal action at this time.

20. If Mr B is unable to proceed with the legal route and wants us to consider his complaint again, he can contact us. It is important Mr B approaches us as soon as possible. This is because we can usually only look at complaints that are raised within 12 months of the person becoming aware of the issue, although we can sometimes put our time limit to one side if we feel it is reasonable to do so.

21. We thank Mr B for bringing his complaint to us and for speaking to us about this, we recognise this has been a difficult time for him. We hope this statement clearly explains the reasons why we will not be considering his concerns further at this time.

1. We have carefully considered Mr B’s complaint about the Practice and the Trust. Having done so, we consider Mr B could take legal action on the matter he has brought to us.

2. Mr B raised concerns about his late mother, Ms B’s care and a delay in her diagnosis and treatment of kidney cancer.

3. We acknowledge how important Mr B’s complaint is to him and we recognise this has been a difficult time. We are sorry to hear of Ms B’s sad death and the impact this has had on Mr B and his family.

4. We consider legal action may provide the financial outcome Mr B seeks. If he is unable to achieve any of the outcomes he seeks through the legal process, he can return to us without delay to ask us to consider his concerns. We have therefore decided not to consider the complaint further.