9. Section 9(4) of the Health Service Commissioners Act 1993 states: ‘The Commissioner shall not entertain the complaint if it is made more than a year after the day on which the person aggrieved first had notice of the matters alleged in the complaint, unless he considers it reasonable to do so.’
10. This means that if a complaint is made to us more than twelve months after the complainant became aware of a cause to complain, we are unable to consider it unless there is a good reason for us to so. The two main factors we take into account are the complainant’s explanation for the delay, and how long it had taken the Trust to respond to the complaint.
Ms A’s reasons for the delay in bringing her complaint to us
11. Ms A became aware of a cause to complain on 3 August 2022. Ms A confirmed this when she spoke to us on 7 April 2025.
12. Ms A first submitted a complaint to the Trust about this on 18 October 2023. The Trust then responded to Ms A’s complaint on 23 August 2024. Ms A then complained to PHSO on 16 December 2024.
13. On the complaint form, Ms A stated the Trust took ten months to respond to her complaint. She also stated the delay in her bringing her complaint to us from when she received the response from the Trust was because she suffers from anxiety and depression, and she becomes overwhelmed from doing the smallest tasks.
14. Ms A did not provide any reasoning on the complaint form for why she did not complain to the Trust until 18 October 2023. This is a gap of over 14 months from her date of knowledge (3 August 2022).
15. We spoke to Ms A and Ms F (Ms A’s sister and representative) on the phone on 7 April 2025. We explained our time limit rule and how we applied the rule. We explained the complainant has 12 months from the date of knowledge to bringing the complaint to us, but if the complaint comes to us after that time, we can put the time limit to one side if there is a good reason for us to do so.
16. We explained we needed to look at two gaps in time, 3 August 2022 to 18 October 2023 (date of knowledge to when Ms A complained to the Trust) and 23 August 2024 to 16 December 2024 (the time from when the Trust provided the response to Ms A, to when Ms A complained to us).
17. Ms F said the main reason why Ms A did not complain sooner is because of the lasting impact the issues were having on Ms A (her wound and wound care). Ms F also said Ms A was in pain when she was discharged from the Trust.
18. We explained we understood this, but we could see that Ms A (with the help of her daughter) had pursued a complaint against a different Trust in October 2022. Ms A and Ms F did not directly address this, and they spoke about the impact the wound care had had on Ms A. We absolutely understand that Ms A has been through a terrible time, and we are in no way trying to take away from this or diminish her experience in any way.
19. Ms F did not provide any further reasons for the delay in Ms A bringing the complaint to us. We asked if there were any other reasons for the delay, or if there was any further information Ms F or Ms A wanted to provide to us. Ms F nor Ms A did not provide any different reasons or information to what they had already given.
20. Ms A did pursue a separate complaint regarding the district nursing care she received with a different Trust, with the help of her daughter. This complaint was made on 10 October 2022. At this time, Ms A was also aware that she was unhappy with being discharged from the Trust with a large wound in her neck. We asked Ms A why she did not also pursue a complaint against the Trust at that time, as she was able to pursue a complaint against a different Trust, with the help of her daughter. Ms A did not provide an explanation for this. Ms A stated she was suffering with pain in her neck, and that is the main reason why she did not complain to the Trust until October 2023.
21. After careful consideration, we do not consider the reasons Ms A has provided are enough for us to put our time limit to one side. The evidence shows Ms A was able to pursue a complaint with the help of her daughter in October 2022, just two months after the date of knowledge. Ms A has not provided any reasons to say why she could not also have complained to the Trust at this time.
22. There is a further four-month delay from Ms A receiving the final response in August 2024 to her bringing her complaint to us in December 2024. We do understand Ms A has been through a very difficult time, and she has suffered physically and mentally because of this.
23. We do not consider the reasons she has provided (suffering from anxiety and depression) justify a further four-month delay in her bringing the complaint to us. This is because she had been able to make complaints prior to bringing the complaint to us, and she has not provided any specific information to explain the reason for it taking four months for her to bring her complaint to us, upon receiving the final response from the Trust.
24. In total, there is a gap of 18 months that we do not consider to be fully accounted for. This ranges from 3 August 2022 to 18 October 2023 and 23 August 2024 to 16 December 2024.
25. The Trust was responding to Ms A’s complaint from 18 October 2023 to 23 August 2024 and so this period of time is of course accounted for. It is important to point out that this period of time has been taken into consideration.
26. We fully understand that Ms A has been through a very difficult time. The pictures she has sent us show she had a very severe wound on the back of her neck, and we understand this had a physical and psychological impact on her.
27. Ms A was able to complain to a different Trust in October 2022 (ten months prior to her complaining to the Trust) with the help of her daughter. We believe this shows she was able to submit a complaint, and she had a family member who was able to help and support her with this. Due to this reason, and the further four-month delay from her getting the final response from the Trust to her bringing the complaint to us, we do not consider we should put our time limit to one side here. The complaint is therefore out of time.
28. Complaints give us valuable insight into the organisations we investigate, and we recognise this has been an emotionally challenging process for Ms A and Ms F. We would like to thank them for sharing their experience with us.