Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

3. Mrs N complains about aspects of the care and treatment Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provided to her husband, Mr N prior to his death in March 2023.

4. In relation to Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Mrs N complaints the Trust:

• failed to identify and operate on Mr N’s metastatic mass • failed to provide support for Mr N when providing him with his diagnosis of melanoma • discharged with a drain and failed to provide adequate aftercare for this • wrongly identified enlarged lymph nodes on the wrong side • failed to act on concerns Mr N raised about his health • did not maintain appropriate communication and information sharing regarding Mr N’s care.

5. Regarding Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Mrs N says it failed to identify Mr N had metastatic melanoma and inappropriately diagnosed him with gastroenteritis.

6. Mrs N says because of both Trust’s actions it meant Mr N did not get the treatment he needed straightaway and contributed to his death. She says she has been left traumatised by the events and was misled into thinking more could have been done for her husband.

7. To resolve her complaint Mrs N is seeking an apology, an acknowledgement of failures from both Trusts and service improvements to ensure others do not go through the same issues.

9. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has the option to take legal action, unless we consider it is not reasonable for them to do so. We do not base our decision on how successful legal action would be. Rather, we consider whether legal action is a reasonable option for someone to pursue.

10. We discussed this with Mrs N to understand her circumstances and the outcomes she is hoping to achieve. Mrs N has told us she is seeking financial compensation for the Trust’s actions.

11. Mrs N has not told us how much compensation she is specifically seeking. Mrs N told us she would like the opportunity to pursue legal action and is planning to contact legal firms. Mrs N has raised no barriers to accessing legal advice. In any instance legal advice can be free of charge, or offered under a conditional arrangement such as, ‘no win, no fee’ services, which would not incur any upfront charges.

12. Mrs N says she would also like an apology from the Trust and service improvements. If the court does not achieve this, she may wish to return to us and ask us to consider this for her.

13. We have considered the relevant factors and law. Mrs N could take legal action on the issues she has brought to us. We do not see any barriers to prevent Mrs N from pursuing legal action and we think it is reasonable that she does so. We have therefore decided not to consider the complaint further.

14. We recognise how important this matter is to Mrs N and the significance of the impact the events have had on her. We thank her for bringing this complaint to our attention.

1. We have carefully considered Mrs N’s complaint about the Trusts. We are sorry to hear about everything that happened to her and her husband Mr N and thank her for discussing such difficult events so openly.

2. We have decided not to consider the complaint further. This is because we consider Mrs N could take legal action on the matter she has brought to us.