Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

3. Miss L raises concerns about the care and treatment the Trust gave to her mother, Mrs L. She says the Trust:

• failed to provide adequate hydration and nourishment for Mrs L during her admission • did not respond appropriately to repeated concerns raised by family members about Mrs L’s worsening health

4. Miss L said because of what happened, her mother was denied the care and treatment she needed, and she sadly died. Miss L told us it was distressing for her to see her mother’s needs not being met. She told us she continues to grieve for the loss of Mrs L, particularly the way she died.

5. To resolve her complaint, Miss L is seeking service improvements and financial redress of £12,450 or more.

7. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has the option to take legal action, unless we consider it is not reasonable for them to do so. We do not base our decision on how successful legal action would be. Rather, we consider whether legal action is a reasonable option for someone to pursue.

8. We asked Miss L about this to understand her circumstances and the outcomes she is hoping to achieve. Miss L has told us she is seeking a financial remedy of £12,450 or more for the Trust’s actions.

9. Miss L has confirmed there are no barriers to her accessing legal advice. Legal advice can be free of charge, or offered under a conditional arrangement such as, ‘no win, no fee’ services, which would not incur any upfront charges.

10. Miss L says she would also like service improvements from the Trust, to prevent this happening to other vulnerable people. If the court does not achieve this, she may wish to return to us and ask us to consider this for her.

11. We have considered the relevant factors and law. Miss L could take legal action on the issues she has brought to us. We do not see any barriers to prevent Miss L from pursuing legal action and we think it is reasonable that she does so. We have therefore decided not to consider the complaint further.

12. We recognise how important this matter is to Miss L and the significant impact the events have had on her. We thank her for bringing this complaint to our attention.

1. We have carefully considered Miss L’s complaint about the Trust. We are sorry to hear about what happened and are grateful to Miss L for being so open about such difficult events.

2. We have decided not to consider the complaint further. This is because we consider Miss L could take legal action on the matter she has brought to us.