3. Mr D complains about Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust’s (the Trust) resolution to a complaint he raised in 2023 about not being offered substantial support to deal with his CPTSD. He says the agreed resolution did not resolve his issues, specifically the time taken for him to start his talk therapy and that he was not provided with ongoing talking therapy.
4. Mr D believes this has prolonged his suffering, and without ongoing talking therapy he feels his condition will not be properly addressed.
5. By raising the complaint to us, Mr D seeks an immediate referral to ongoing talk therapy, an apology and financial remedy to address the issues he has experienced.
Evidence 6. In our consideration of this case, we reviewed the information Mr D provided in writing and by phone. We also considered relevant legislation, including the Health Service Commissioners Act 1993 (the law).
Reasons for our decision 7. The law says a person must bring their complaint to us within one year of becoming aware of the issue. We cannot investigate complaints made outside of this time limit unless we consider there is a good reason to do so.
8. We spoke with Mr D to understand the timeline of events. Mr D stated his concerns are ongoing and have been developing. He explained that due to his mental health condition, he experiences dissociation and found it difficult to pinpoint when he became aware of the issues.
9. The medical records show Mr D was referred to Step Forward on 19 April 2023 following his concerns about having been passed between the Community Mental Health Team and A&E. He engaged with the programme to assess its suitability.
10. Mr D attended his first appointment with Step Forward on 12 September 2023. Therefore this is the latest date Mr D could have become aware of the need to complain about the delay in his talk therapy.
11. During this appointment, Step Forward explained its service. Mr D was told any talking therapy offered would typically be a limited amount of sessions. Mr D expressed concern this would not be sufficient to meet his needs. We can see Mr D became aware of the need to complain about the lack of ongoing talk therapy on 12 September 2023.
12. To be within our time limit, Mr D needed to bring his complaint to us by 12 September 2024. Mr D brought his complaint to us on 25 March 2025, six months outside our time limit. Mr D complained to the Trust on 16 September 2024, over a year after he became aware of the limited sessions offered through Step Forward. We asked Mr D about the reason for his delay.
13. Mr D told us he used compartmentalisation and dissociation as coping techniques. He did not provide us with any other information. Mr D’s medical records from this time show his therapist encouraged him to raise his complaint with the Trust. We can see he engaged with Step Forward and other mental health workers through until September 2024 when he raised his complaint. The records show Mr D was focussing on dealing with housing issues and fighting to access long term therapy.
14. The evidence shows that whilst dealing with the impact of CPTSD, Mr D’s therapist felt he could raise these concerns to the Trust, and Mr D was able to raise concerns about other issues with other organisations. We therefore haven’t seen sufficient reason to put this time aside.
15. The Trust responded to Mr D on 17 January 2025, four months after he submitted his complaint. As the time the Trust took to respond to his complaint is outside of Mr D control, we will put this time aside.
16. Mr D brought his complaint to us on 25 March 2025, two months after he received the Trust’s final complaint response. Mr D did not provide us with additional information about this delay.
Conclusion 17. We have put aside the time the Trust took to respond to Mr D’s complaint as it was outside of his control. Based on the information available, we do not consider Mr D has provided sufficient reason for us to put our time limit aside. We will therefore not be taking any further action on his complaint.
18. We understand this decision may be disappointing for Mr D, especially given the time and effort he has invested. We thank Mr D for bringing his complaint to us and appreciate the opportunity to consider it.