Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

3. Mr A complains about the care Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust provided his grandson in 2023.

4. He complains both organisations failed to accurately diagnose his grandson which meant he did not receive the care he needed for Hirschsprung’s disease (a birth defect in which nerves are missing from parts of the intestine) and sadly died on 7 August 2023.

5. In bringing the complaint to us, Mr A would like both organisations to acknowledge what went wrong and make a financial payment to his grandson’s parents.

8. The HCSA says we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has, or had, the option to take legal action. This is unless we consider this is (or was) unreasonable in the circumstances.

9. We consider Mr A or his family may be able to take legal action. This is because he has told us both organisation’s actions caused his grandson suffering and led to his death. They may be able to pursue this via a clinical negligence claim.

10. Mr A and his family are seeking a financial remedy and want to take legal action. Whilst we may recommend a financial payment if we were to uphold the complaint, the family may be able to achieve a higher amount if any legal action they take is successful.

11. We spoke to Mr A to understand his complaint, the impact he says he and his family have faced because of their experiences and whether legal action would be reasonable for them to pursue. During our call Mr A advised his grandson’s parents had begun exploring legal action. He then confirmed this is ongoing and that a solicitor is waiting for his grandson’s clinical records.

12. We consider it is reasonable for Mr A and his family to explore legal action before he asks us to consider his concerns about his grandson’s care. If they are unsuccessful or legal action cannot achieve their desired outcome, he can bring his complaint back to us. We cannot look at concerns a court has already examined, 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 for him.

13. If Mr A wants to bring his complaint back to us, he should do this as soon as he can. This is because complainants must come to us within 12 months from the date they were aware they had reason to complain. We do have some discretion when applying our time limit but there must be good reason for us to put this to one side.

14. We recognise how deeply distressing the events Mr A complains about were, and the profound impact the loss of a child has on a family. Whilst we are not able to consider this further at present, we do not underestimate the significance of his concerns. We thank Mr A for bringing his complaint to us.

1. We have carefully considered Mr A’s complaint about Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. We are sorry to hear of his grandson’s death and the significant impact this has had and continues to have for his family.

2. In speaking to Mr A, we understand his grandson’s parents are pursuing legal action. This means we cannot look at his complaint at this time. We have explained the reasons for this within the following statement.