Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust

3. Dr U complains about the care and treatment her son had from a Trust nurse from August 2021 to July 2022.

4. Dr U complains the nurse gave misleading and inaccurate information about her son during meetings and failed to consider his best interests. She says despite sending dietician letters for her son’s records to be updated, the nurse failed to respond or to update the records. She explains this complicated the issues.

5. Dr U said the nurse sent misleading information to her son’s school about his augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device (a device that helps someone with a speech or language impairment to communicate).

6. She said she had to give the doctor details of her son’s history of seizures, dehydration and hospital admissions because the nurse had given false information.

7. Dr U said she has experienced severe emotional harassment and her son’s health has been greatly affected because of the Trust’s poor care and treatment.

8. Dr U wants an apology and compensation from the Trust and the nurse.

9. Dr U’s son has epilepsy and has been under the care of a Trust consultant paediatrician since 2017.

10. In June 2021, the Trust assigned the nurse (as a paediatric epilepsy specialist) to Dr U’s son. The nurse was at a telephone epilepsy appointment with the consultant on 13 August 2021.

11. During the call, Dr U was unhappy with a clinic letter the consultant had written in March 2021, referring to a school dietician. She later told the nurse by email that her son had a private dietician not a school dietician The nurse discussed this with the consultant and decided because the issue was about a dietician and the appointment was about epilepsy, they did not need to correct the letter.

12. Dr U told her son’s school she wanted him to use an AAC device because of his autism. The speech and language therapist at the school contacted the nurse for advice on whether this was safe because of the history of epilepsy.

13. The nurse discussed this with the consultant and wrote to the school to say there was no sign that the device could not be used.

14. Dr U’s son went to the Trust’s emergency department in July 2022 with a reported seizure and was admitted to the ward. There was a meeting involving the Trust and the social worker to discuss his care. The nurse gave her feedback but Dr U feels that she gave misleading information during this meeting.

16. Before we decide if we should do a detailed investigation of a complaint, we look at whether there is an organisation that is better suited to deal with the concerns.

17. Dr U’s complaint is focused on the actions of the Trust nurse.

18. Because of this, we thought about whether we are the best organisation to deal with the complaint. The NMC investigates complaints about nurses, midwives or nursing associates. The NMC can investigate serious or repeated mistakes in patient care and dishonesty or fraud.

19. Our role is to investigate organisations, not individuals. If we investigate a complaint, we can ask an individual for their comments, but we cannot take any action against an individual. For these reasons, we think it would be best for Dr U to raise her concerns about the nurse with the NMC.

1. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has carefully considered Dr U’s complaint about Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust (the Trust). We are sorry to hear of her experience and the affect this had on her and her son.

2. Based on what Dr U has told us, we have decided not to pursue her complaint any further. This is because there is another organisation, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), that is better suited to deal with her concerns.