Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

3. Mrs A complains about aspects of care and treatment the Trust provided to her brother, Mr Z, on 18 November 2023 when he underwent Trial Without Catheter (TWOC). Specifically: • the Trust did not provide the appropriate level of care to support and monitor her brother through the TWOC process • when her brother started to show symptoms of the dangerous complication autonomic dysreflexia (AD), staff did not take sufficient or prompt enough action in response.

4. Mrs A says the Trust’s failings in care and treatment led to her brother dying of AD on 19 November, one day into the trial. She says the impact on her and her family has been massive. They have lost a beloved member of the family and still feel there are a lot of unanswered questions about what happened. Mrs A says her brother deserved better and she is devastated by her loss.

5. Mrs A wants answers about what happened, for the Trust to acknowledge its failings and to apologise. She seeks a financial remedy and service improvements.

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. We discussed the outcomes Mrs A was seeking for her complaint. Initially Mrs A wanted answers for what had happened, and for the Trust to admit it had made mistakes. She said money was not a driving force for her pursuing her complaint. Mrs A was initially unsure if she felt psychologically well enough to engage with the legal process.

10. We completed some initial work on Mrs A’s complaint and had a further discussion with her about the outcomes she was seeking. Mrs A confirmed she now wanted a compensation payment as an outcome for her complaint. She could not say how much, but she felt a payment would make the Trust take notice and it could make a difference.

11. Mrs A then spoke to her family about whether they should explore a legal route, and following this, told us she had contacted a solicitor.

12. We consider Mrs A could make a claim for clinical negligence because she says the Trust’s actions caused her brother’s death. She has started to explore this route, and we think she should continue to do this, particularly in consideration of the three-year time limit from the date of events for making a clinical negligence claim.

13. While Mrs A has approached one solicitor at this point, she could approach other solicitors for legal advice which can be free of charge. She could also consider legal representation through a ‘no-win-no-fee’ service which would not incur any upfront costs.

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

15. Mrs A has also told us she wants the Trust to acknowledge and apologise for the failings in her brother’s care, and to make sure the Trust’s services improve. We consider it is possible these actions could occur as a by-product of successful legal action.

16. If Mrs A is unsuccessful in pursuing legal action or is unable to achieve the outcome she is looking for, she can bring her complaint back to us to consider. We cannot look at concerns a court has already examined and reached a decision on, 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.

17. If Mrs A decides to return to us, we ask she does so as promptly as possible. This is because delays may impact us being able to investigate the complaint.

18. In summary, we consider Mrs A could achieve compensation through legal action and may achieve the other outcomes she seeks as a by-product. We have not seen reason why Mrs A cannot explore this route and she has told us she has already started to do this.

19. In-line with the Health Service Commissioners Act, we will not consider Mrs A’s complaint any further at this time. We thank Mrs A for bringing her complaint to us. We recognise how important this is to her and appreciate the time she has spent engaging with our service.

1. We have carefully considered Mrs A’s complaint about the care and treatment Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust) provided to her brother, Mr Z, in November 2023.

2. We have decided Mrs A could take legal action on the matters she has brought to us. For this reason, we will not take her complaint further at this time. We are very sorry to hear of the sad circumstances of Mrs A’s complaint and recognise she and her family have been devastated by Mr Z’s sad death. We extend our sincere condolences for her loss.