Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust

4. Mr L complains about the Trust’s care and treatment of his son. He says from December 2019 to March 2022 the Trust did not fully investigate his son’s symptoms and discharged him without diagnosis in June 2020. Mr L says the Trust’s reply to his complaint in December 2022 was not fair as it was investigated internally. Mr L says in January 2023, the Trust wrote to his son’s school blaming him for his son’s condition.

5. Mr L says his son’s lung condition got worse and he now has irreversible scarring on his lungs. He explains his son is now on a lot more medication causing side effects and he needs physiotherapy twice a day. He says his son misses out on school activities like sports. He says his son is constantly upset and struggles with his daily two-hour physiotherapy routine and nebuliser (a device that sprays a fine mist of medicine through a mask).

6. Mr L says it was distressing to be blamed for his son’s condition and he feels the teachers treat him differently now.

7. Mr L says this experience put a strain on family life and it is stressful to be constantly worried about his son’s condition.

8. Mr L wants compensation of at least £10,000 for the damage caused to his son and the family. Mr L would like an apology and for the Trust to accept its failings. Mr L would also like to see the Trust make service improvements.

9. Mr L’s son had swallowing difficulties and chest infections from birth. He was diagnosed with dysphagia (when you have difficulty swallowing). Mr L asked for more specialist care after the diagnosis as his son was still having problems breathing and swallowing. They were referred to the paediatric respiratory team for suspected asthma. Mr L says after his son was seen by the team, he was discharged.

11. 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 discussed this with Mr L to understand his circumstances and the outcomes he wants. We do not look at whether legal action would succeed, but whether it would be a reasonable option to take.

12. In general terms, clinical negligence is when a patient gets injured because of treatment they have had. It can also be when there is a failure to give treatment.

13. We do not look at compensation in the same way as a court does. A court can decide if there has been clinical negligence and award compensation. As Mr L is looking for a large amount of compensation, we think it is best for him to look into making a clinical negligence claim by taking legal action.

14. We checked if there was anything stopping Mr L from taking legal action. We explained how we look at compensation. Mr L says he has already spoken to a solicitor and after speaking to us, he would like to explore his legal options. We will not look at the complaint further because Mr L can take legal action to resolve his complaint and there is nothing stopping him from doing this.

15. Mr L also complains about the way the Trust investigated his complaint and about a letter it sent to his son’s school. These are issues we could look at but we could not say if the investigation was fair or consider the letter without first looking at the Trust’s care and treatment of Mr L’s son. This could affect any legal action that is being taken. For this reason, we will not take any action on these parts of Mr L’s complaint at this time.

16. If there are any outcomes that cannot be achieved by legal action Mr L can bring the complaint back to us.

1. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has carefully considered Mr L’s complaint about Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust).

2. We are sorry to hear about the events which led Mr L to complain about the Trust and we recognise the distress this caused him.

3. Mr L could take legal action on the matter he has brought to us and for this reason, we are not investigating the complaint further. Our statement below explains how we have reached this decision.