3. Miss A complains that she had a CT scan at the hospital on 25 January 2021. This showed nodules on her left lung. She said doctors did not tell her about this until August 2024. At that point she was found to have incurable cancer. She says, if doctors had managed her health appropriately, the cancer could have been treatable.
4. Miss A told us she wanted the Trust to pay her a significant amount of compensation.
6. 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 contacted Miss A to understand more about her 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.
7. In our communications with Miss A we discussed the outcomes she would be satisfied with if we were to uphold his complaint. She was clear that she wants a significant compensation payment. The Trust has apologised for failings in communication and explained how there will be learning from her experience. Miss A told us she did not want her complaint to be used ‘as a learning curve.’
8. Miss A told us she could not afford legal action. We explained that some solicitors will work on a ‘no win no fee’ basis. It is not our role to recommend a financial remedy for claims of clinical negligence. We would expect Miss A to explore whether she can get legal representation. If there is a clear reason why she is prevented from taking legal action it is possible we could consider his complaint again. But she would need to contact us without delay because we have a time limit. We do not normally investigate incidents that happened more than a year ago, unless there is a clear reason why a complainant was unable to contact us.
9. We can see how upsetting these events have been for Miss A. We are sorry we cannot help her on this occasion.
1. We have carefully considered Miss A’s complaint about the Trust. Miss A complains about treatment doctors at one of the Trust’s hospitals gave to her in 2021. She believes failings by doctors meant her cancer diagnosis was missed. She now has only a few months to live and she believes she could have survived her illness if doctors had treated her appropriately. We can see how devastating these events have been for Miss A. We are very sorry to hear about her illness.
2. We have decided not to start a detailed investigation because we consider Miss A could taken legal action about the matter she had brought to us. We recognise this will be disappointing for Miss A.