South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

3. Mrs O complains about the care and treatment provided to her by the Trust following her resection and hysterectomy surgery in 2019. She says if the Trust had provided adjuvant chemotherapy after her surgery in 2019 her cancer would not have returned in early 2023.

5. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has the option to take legal action, unless we consider this is 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.

6. We have discussed Mrs O’s complaint with her to understand her circumstances and the additional action she would like to happen now the Trust’s investigation has concluded. Mrs O said she is not satisfied with the outcome of her complaint to the Trust and she believes financial compensation is appropriate.

7. The financial compensation Mrs O is hoping to achieve is a significant amount. We explored with Mrs O if it is reasonable for her to consider legal action and we have not seen any significant barriers to her pursuing legal action. For this reason we think it is reasonable for her to pursue this course of action and we have decided to take no further action on her complaint.

8. We thank Mrs O for bringing her complaint to us and we recognise how difficult this incident has been for her. We hope we have clearly explained the reasons for our decision.

1. We have carefully considered Mrs O’s complaint about the Trust. We consider it is reasonable for Mrs O to pursue legal action on the matter she has brought to us to achieve the outcome she wants. We discussed Mrs O’s complaint with her on 5 February 2025. She explained that the outcome she is looking to achieve is for the Trust to pay her £100,000 in financial compensation.

2. We acknowledge Mrs O’s complaint and the impact this incident has had on her. We think as the only outcome she is seeking is financial compensation it is reasonable for her to pursue her complaint through the legal channels available to her. For this reason, we have decided not to consider the complaint further.