Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

3. Mrs E complains about the Trust’s care and treatment when she went to the ear, nose and throat clinic on 16 May 2022. Mrs E says it did not do an Epley manoeuvre (a procedure to treat a type of vertigo) correctly and she is concerned the staff member was not qualified.

4. She also complains staff in the audiology department did not correctly treat the symptoms she had because of the failed Epley manoeuvre.

5. Mrs E says her balance has been badly affected meaning she cannot stand for long, she is fearful of falling and cannot walk very far. She says this has meant her general health has suffered because she is not as active.

6. Mrs E also says that because of the Trust’s actions she has developed deafness in her left ear and the sounds she does hear are distorted. She says this means she cannot join in conversations like she used to.

7. Mrs E thinks her ear drum ruptured because of what went wrong.

8. Mrs E would like the Trust to apologise and accept what went wrong. She would also like the Trust to pay compensation.

10. The Health Service Commissioners Act 1993 (the law) says we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has the option to take legal action, unless we can see it is not reasonable for them to do this. We have discussed this with Mrs E to understand her circumstances and the outcomes she wants. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look in to.

11. We think Mrs E may be able to make a clinical negligence claim.

12. Mrs E explained she had not explored legal action because she thought it was ‘so extreme’ and ‘not the proper way to go about things’. We asked her if there were any other reasons why she had not already explored the legal route and she told us there were none.

13. We also asked Mrs E about the amount of compensation she thought would put right what happened. She said she did not know. Mrs E told us that at first, she had simply wanted the Trust to treat her new symptoms after the Epley procedure but this had changed because she now knows it is not possible to put things right clinically. She explained the amount of compensation should reflect the position she now finds herself in.

14. We appreciate Mrs E does not know exactly how much compensation she thinks would be right. From what she has told us, if her claim was successful we think the payment could be substantial.

15. We cannot see anything stopping Mrs E from looking in to legal action. This could include free legal services like Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA) or ‘no-win, no-fee’ solicitors. If her circumstances change and it becomes clear that legal action is not possible, she can come back to us and ask us to investigate her complaint.

16. We know Mrs E would like the Trust to acknowledge what happened and to apologise, as well as a financial payment. A court will normally only recommend financial payment if it finds clinical negligence, but apologies and acknowledgements can also be achieved.

17. If Mrs E were to return to us after successfully taking legal action, we could consider a complaint about any matters the court could not look at for her, or any outcomes that it could not achieve for her.

1. We are sorry to hear about the circumstances of Mrs E’s complaint and how she has been affected by what happened. It is clear she continues to feel worried and upset by the way her care was managed.

2. We have carefully considered Mrs E’s complaint about Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust). We are not investigating the complaint further because Mrs E could take legal action on the matter she has brought to us. We explain our decision in detail below.