Medway NHS Foundation Trust

3. Mr A complains on behalf of his daughter Miss A about the care and treatment provided by Medway NHS Foundation Trust in May 2023. Specifically, he says the Trust:

• failed to report crucial information on an ultrasound scan • delayed in referring Miss A to specialised consultant care.

4. Mr A tells us as a result of the Trust’s negligent care, Miss A lost her twin baby, I. He says the whole episode has had a detrimental effect on Miss A, as a first time mum her excitement on becoming pregnant was short lived upon the discovery of twin to twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) and the subsequent loss of one of her twin baby’s.

5. He tells us Miss A has continued to relive this painful experience in an effort to understand what went wrong. He says she has been left with a profound sense of loss through what can only be described as a complete lack of due diligence and care.

6. As an outcome to his complaint, Mr A would like an apology acknowledging the impact, an explanation, service improvements and financial compensation at level six on our severity of injustice scale.

7. Miss A was pregnant and upon initial scan found she was expecting monochorionic twins (this is where identical twins share one placenta). Initially the pregnancy followed a normal pathway, but Miss A began to experience fluid loss and lack of movement. Mr A told us the Trust did not fully monitor Miss A’s pregnancy and failed to follow up on a scan which led to the loss of twin baby I.

10. 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.

11. Clinical negligence takes place when a patient who underwent a treatment becomes injured as a result of that treatment. Failure to carry out appropriate treatment could also amount to negligence.

12. Mr A tells us due to negligent care provided by the Trust, Miss A lost twin baby I. He told us they have been left with a profound sense of loss which they continue to live with every day. Mr A seeks service improvements, an apology and financial compensation at level six on our severity of injustice scale.

13. As Mr A is seeking financial compensation, it is reasonable for him to explore a clinical negligence claim. Mr A has already initiated legal action through the NHS legal team. As he is already pursuing this option we can see there are no barriers to him exploring legal action. This legal action is still ongoing and so we are unable to consider Mr A’s complaint at this time.

14. Mr A is also looking for service improvements and an apology. A court cannot order these types of remedies, but they may be achieved as a by-product of the legal action.

15. We have advised Mr A if there are any outstanding outcomes that cannot be achieved through the legal claim, or if he finds he is not able to make a legal claim, he can bring the complaint back to us to consider further. We have reminded Mr A about our time limit and not to delay in returning to us should he need to.

16. We thank Mr A for bringing his complaint to us for our consideration. We hope our explanation of why we cannot consider his complaint further at this point is clear.

1. We have carefully considered Mr A’s complaint about Medway NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust). We understand how important this complaint is to Mr A and his family, and we recognise they have been deeply impacted by the loss of baby I.

2. Mr A is already pursuing legal action in relation to his complaint. We have decided that it is reasonable for him to continue to do this, and we are not going to take any further action. We will explain our decision further in this statement.