Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust

3. Mr A complains about the Trust’s care and treatment between 26 and 31 August 2022 when he had a swollen elbow.

4. Mr A complains:

• the consultant did not give the correct medical care and their behaviour was not professional • the Trust did not do blood tests • the Trust did not give him his usual blood pressure medication • the Trust did not discharge him correctly.

5. Mr A says if he had got a bed sooner, he would have got the right treatment quicker. Mr A says he was not able to go back to hospital after his discharge, as he felt it was not safe. He said he had to get extra treatment from his GP and had to take oral antibiotics which made him very unwell for two weeks.

6. Mr A would like financial compensation.

7. On 26 August 2022, Mr A went to the Trust’s emergency department with a swollen elbow. The Trust gave him antibiotics and said he would be admitted overnight to continue his treatment. He was later told there was no bed for him and he went home.

8. Mr A went back to the Trust for further treatment on 27 August. and Mr A was given a bed.

9. On 28 August, Mr A was given oral antibiotics, which he asked to be changed to intravenous antibiotics (IV – given through the veins instead of orally) because he had a cannula in place. He had been sick before after taking oral antibiotics.

10. On 29 August, the Trust changed Mr A’s prescription to IV antibiotics and discharged him from hospital on 31 August.

12. 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 have spoken about this with Mr A to understand what he wants to achieve. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look in to.

13. Mr A may be able to take legal action on his complaint because he says the delayed treatment caused him harm and he thinks the care he was given could have put his life in danger.

14. During our conversation with Mr A, we asked him what he wants to achieve. Mr A said he wants disciplinary action to be taken against the consultant and he is asking for financial compensation. Mr A is not sure how much financial compensation he wants.

15. Mr A could make a clinical negligence claim to investigate this further. Mr A said there is no reason he cannot make a legal claim. He has started a clinical negligence claim for a different issue.

16. We think it is reasonable for Mr A to take legal action to explore this further.

1. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has carefully considered Mr A’s complaint about Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust). We appreciate the distress Mr A experienced at the time of his complaint.

2. After looking at the evidence, we think Mr A could take legal action to resolve his complaint and we will not take any further action.