Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust

3. Ms G complains about care provided by Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust to her father, Mr H, between 4 April and the 4 July 2024. She complains about specific issues on different wards Mr H was placed on. She complains that on multiple wards the Trust: • did not provide appropriate nutrition for Mr H, repeatedly leaving his tray out of reach • did not provide fluids appropriately, despite dehydration • were unable to fit a feeding tube for three days and did not provide any alternative food • did not provide appropriate supervision of Mr H and was often found by his family shouting for help • did not provide appropriate toileting assistance for Mr H

4. Ms G says these issues contributed to Mr H’s distress, pain and confusion. Because of a lack of care and neglect, he started to feel he wanted to die. She says this was also extremely distressing for the family to hear.

5. Ms G also says that issues with fluids and medication caused her father to deteriorate and contributed to an earlier death.

6. Ms G says witnessing her father being ill-treated by the hospital has caused her significant grief and distress. She says it caused her to leave her job of 30 years while she tried to manage her grief.

7. Ms G says as a result of her complaint she would like the appropriate staff to be held accountable and to have their jobs removed because of their negligent care. She also told us she seeks a financial remedy.

9. Our Service Model Guidance outlines the reasons we may decide not to investigate. They include where the investigation would not reach a satisfactory conclusion. Another reason we may decide not to investigate is if the outcome sought is not achievable.

10. We investigate complaints if we think we can achieve what a complainant is looking for as an outcome to complaining. We would not investigate if our investigation cannot achieve what the complainant seeks.

11. In a call with Ms G on 20 November we asked her what she would like us to achieve for her, if we upheld her complaint. She told us she did not think we could achieve what she wanted, which was for people to be held accountable to lose their jobs for the things they had done.

12. We explained in the call that we do not have the powers to take away people’s ability to practice in healthcare. We explained we could achieve service improvements. Ms G explained to us that she did not believe our recommendations for improvement would change anything at the Trust. We asked her to think about if we could achieve anything for her as we would not proceed without knowing we can achieve an outcome for her.

13. Ms G emailed us on 30 November to discuss her desired investigation outcomes further. She explained that of the three things PHSO can achieve (apologies, service improvements or financial remedy), none of those were what she wanted. She reiterated she wanted individual staff members to be held accountable.

14. Ms G stated she would choose financial remedy, but the choice brings her distress as no amount of money would make things better or ease the pain of witnessing what had happened to Mr H.

15. We recognise Ms G’s main interest is for individual employees of the Trust to be investigated and punitive measures to be taken, if failings are found. This is not something PHSO can recommend. In addition, we recognise Ms G stated she would accept a financial remedy, however, she has stated that it would bring her distress and that it is not really what she wants PHSO to recommend, if her complaint was upheld.

16. We do not think our investigation would lead to a satisfactory outcome for Ms G because we cannot recommend punitive outcomes that she seeks. For this reason, we have decided not to investigate the complaint further.

17. We recognise Ms G has highlighted financial remedy, an outcome we can sometimes recommend. But she has also indicated this is not truly what she wants and that it will bring her distress to receive this. This again strengthens our thinking that we cannot achieve a positive outcome for Ms G and therefore we should not investigate the complaint.

18. We recognise Ms G has suffered a traumatic time, and she continues to grieve for the loss of her father. We also recognise that she is passionate in her resolve to seek justice for her father and therefore this may be a difficult decision for her to receive. We apologise for the distress our decision may cause.

1. We have carefully considered Ms G’s complaint about the Trust. We have decided not to consider her complaint further. This is because we are unable to achieve her desired outcomes and therefore any investigation by us would not reach a satisfactory conclusion for her.

2. We are very sorry to hear about the tragic loss of Mr H, father of Ms G. We understand that the issues she raises in the complaint about Mr H’s care have been exceptionally distressing for Ms G. We do not underestimate how upsetting the period complained about, has been for her and her family.