The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust

6. Mr R complains about the Trust’s care and treatment of Mrs R from 2018 until her death in April 2019. He complains:

• the RCA investigation was inaccurate and relevant guidance (national and local) was not followed - Mr R says he was not involved but NHS Serious Incident guidelines say he should have been • the Trust recorded the wrong type of cancer in the cancer register • the Trust delayed diagnosing cancer, it did not manage Mrs R’s condition well and she had poor care on the ward • the Trust’s handling of his complaint was poor, there were unreasonable delays in replying and all his concerns were not answered • the Trust did not refer Mrs R and Ms R for genetic testing, it was only offered to Ms R several months after her mother’s death, and the Trust caused confusion by asking Ms R to tell the genetics service that her mother had a different cancer to the one it registered • the Trust did not give him all Mrs R’s clinical records and those he did get were delayed.

7. Mr R told us about how these issues affected him. He said:

• he and his family continue to be distressed because the RCA report does not accurately identify all the failings in Mrs R’s care, and further distress has been caused by the Trust’s refusal to correct the RCA report • he and his family are distressed because inaccurate details about Mrs R’s cancer have been recorded on an official document (the register) despite telling the Trust it got it wrong • he believes Mrs R would have lived longer if the Trust did not fail her and the family would have had longer before having to say goodbye • the Trust has failed to recognise, or to apologise for, the family’s distress and this makes it worse • his distress has been made worse by not getting proper answers to his concerns • his daughter had to live for 18 months with the distress of finding out that she was at a high risk of getting the same cancer as her mother, and the Trust did nothing to confirm this or rule it out • he and his family still do not know important information about Mrs R’s care, which causes them distress.

8. Mr R wants the Trust to:

• acknowledge and apologise for its failings with its RCA investigation and the impact it had on the family, and he wants the RCA to be reinvestigated • correct the information recorded on the cancer registry and show evidence to prove it • acknowledge and apologise for the failings in his wife’s care and the impact this has had on him and his family • acknowledge and apologise for the way it handled his complaint and the impact this had on him • acknowledge and apologise for the failure to provide genetic testing to his wife and daughter at the right time and to recognise the impact this had on them • give him the information he has requested • make improvements so these failings do not happen again • pay him financial compensation.

The RCA, recording of cancer, care and treatment and the complaint handling

10. The Act says we cannot investigate a complaint where the person has (or had) the option to take legal action, unless we consider this is (or was) unreasonable in the circumstances. We discussed this with Mr R to understand his circumstances and the outcomes he wants. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but if it would be a reasonable option to look into.

11. We have decided to take no further action on Mr R’s complaint now, because he has told us he is taking legal action against the Trust about his wife’s care and treatment. We consider it is reasonable for Mr R to continue with this action. His other complaints about the RCA, inaccurate recording of Mrs R’s cancer and the Trust’s complaint handling are linked to his main complaint about care and treatment.

Genetic testing for Ms R and Mrs R

12. We have also decided that Mr R is not the right person to complain about the failure to refer his daughter for genetic testing. The Act says Ms R must make this complaint herself unless there is a reason why she cannot. We have spoken to Ms R and we are satisfied she is able to act for herself and is the right person to make the complaint about her own care. Mr R’s complaint about the failure to refer his wife for genetic testing could also be considered as part of his legal claim, so we are not looking into it further.

Failure to provide records

13. Our internal policy and guidance says that before we decide if we should do a detailed investigation of a complaint, we look at whether there is an organisation that is more suitable to deal with the concerns and whether it can provide the outcome Mr R wants.

14. The ICO would be best to consider Mr R’s complaint about the information he asked for.

15. We know Mr R will be disappointed by our decision but he is welcome to come back to us with any outstanding issues not considered by the legal action. If he decides to come back to us, he should do this quickly as we have a time limit for looking at complaints.

1. Mr R complains about the care and treatment Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (the Trust) gave to his wife, Mrs R, from 2018. He also complains about the way it replied to his concerns and requests for records. We are sorry to learn how deeply Mr R was affected by the events leading to his wife’s death and about the distress he and his family experienced while dealing with the Trust.

2. Mr R complains about:

• the process and accuracy of the root cause analysis (RCA is a process to find the cause of a problem) investigation • inaccurate recording of Mrs R’s cancer on an official register • Mrs R’s care and treatment from 2018 • the Trust’s complaint handling (delays and unanswered concerns) • the Trust’s failure to do genetic testing for Mrs R and Mr R’s daughter (Ms R).

• the Trust’s handling of Mr R’s information requests.

3. We cannot investigate the first four points because Mr R is taking legal action against the Trust. This is because the law says we cannot investigate if there is a legal route available to look into the matter. We know Mr R is likely to be very disappointed by this decision, but we hope he will understand that we want him to take the most appropriate route for his concerns.

4. We considered Mr R’s concerns about genetic testing. We think it is reasonable for him to take legal action about the Trust not referring his wife for testing. But Mr R is not the right person to complain about the Trust’s failure to refer Ms R for genetic testing. While we acknowledge the seriousness of this issue and understand the big impact this has had on Ms R, it is for her to complain to the Trust about this.

5. Finally, we think the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the right organisation to answer Mr R’s complaint about getting his wife’s clinical records and the delays with this. We explain our decision in more detail below.