Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust

4. Mrs B complains the Trust failed to provide appropriate care and treatment to her husband, Mr B when he was admitted in November 2019 with advanced heart failure symptoms. She says: • he was repeatedly moved between bays and rooms, leading to his medical records being mixed up with another patient • he was discharged without necessary investigations • tests were cancelled due to staff shortages • referrals were not made • his discharge summary was delayed and inaccurate, and requests to correct his records were ignored.

• the Trust failed to provide clear communication and continuity of care.

5. Mrs B says because of the Trust’s actions Mr B was denied access to specialist investigations and treatment. She also says the Trust’s actions caused her husband significant distress and worsened his condition. She believes this ultimately contributed to his death. Mrs B tells us she has been left grieving and unable to move forward, with lasting effects on her mental health.

6. To resolve her complaint, Mrs B seeks compensation of £50,000. She says her main goal is to ensure lessons are learned so that other patients do not suffer similar failures.

9. The law says a person needs to make their complaint to us within a year of becoming aware of the problem. We cannot investigate complaints brought to us after one year, unless we consider there is a good reason to do so. We have discussed this with Mrs B to understand the reasons why she did not bring her complaint sooner. We have also considered the time the organisation has taken to respond to Mrs B.

10. Mrs B became aware she had concerns about the care and treatment the Trust provided to her husband in November 2019 when Mr B was discharged from the Trust as an inpatient. For her complaint to be in time, Mrs B would have needed to complain to us by November 2020. As she provided her complaint to us in March 2025, four years and four months outside of our time limit, we considered the reasons for delay.

11. Mrs B raised her complaint with the Trust in September 2023, it provided a response in November 2023. This took approximately 2 months. Mrs B returned to the Trust with further concerns in January 2024. The Trust sent Mrs B its final response 11 months later in December 2024. This is not in line with regulations which say organisations should respond to complaints within six months.

12. It is right the Trust has reflected on its delay to respond to Mrs B, which it said was due to the time it took to arrange a local resolution meeting. We recognise this must have been frustrating for Mrs B. We do not think this delay means we should set aside our time limit. This is because Mrs B’s complaint was already two years and ten months outside the time limit at the point she made the complaint in 2023.

13. Mrs B took three years and ten months to complain to the Trust. When asked about this delay and why she did not raise a complaint until September 2023, Mrs B gave us several reasons. She explained that she had initially been told by a staff member at the Trust that she had three years to complain. Mrs B said the Trust then told her this had changed to one year.

14. Mrs B has shared additional reasons for not making a formal complaint to the Trust sooner than September 2023. She told us it was difficult period where her wellbeing was impacted, and she experienced a decline in her own health and was suffering from grief. Mrs B said she was unable to write to the Trust sooner because of this and found it very hard to move forward in life.

15. We have carefully considered Mrs B’s reasons and are grateful for the time and work she has put into providing us with a clear and detailed complaint, and we thank her for this.

16. Having carefully considered the reasons Mrs B shared we do not think these sufficient to set our time limit aside.

17. We are very sorry to hear of how difficult things have been for Mrs B. We can understand some of the delay, particularly immediately after her husband’s death, which we recognise would have been very distressing. This must have been a very difficult time for her.

18. We do think it would have been reasonable for Mrs B to have taken some action to prevent the complaint from falling outside the time limit. Advocacy organisations are there to help in such circumstances, and we think Mrs B could have sought such support to help her make the complaint at this emotional time.

19. We believe it would have been reasonable for Mrs B to raise her complaint with the Trust before September 2023. By the time Mrs B approached our Office in March 2025, her complaint was already well outside our time limit. NHS complaint regulations published in 2009 explain that a complaint must be made within 12 months of the date a person became aware of the matter. This information is also available on the Trust’s own website and reiterates the importance of making a complaint quickly.

20. We have not seen evidence to suggest Mrs B was told she had three years to raise her complaint. Nonetheless, the NHS time limit was in place at the time Mrs B became aware of her reasons to complain in 2019. Mrs B also accepts this was later relayed to her by the Trust. We think it would have been reasonable for Mrs B to have independently reviewed this information at that time and take earlier action to raise her complaint.

21. To conclude, Mrs B’s complaint about her husband’s care and treatment was brought to us significantly outside our time limit. We do not think the explanations she has given are reason enough to set our time limit to one side.

22. We were very sorry to learn about what happened, and the impact this had on Mrs B. We understand how important the complaint is to her, and we are grateful to her for sharing her concerns.

23. It is important we act within the law, and that we apply our current approach and process fairly and consistently. We are sorry for any upset this decision may cause. We hope this statement clearly explains the reasons why we will not be considering the complaint further.

1. We were very sorry to have learned of Mrs B’s concerns about her husband’s care. We recognise that what happened continues to cause Mrs B considerable ongoing upset and distress, and we extend our condolences to her for her loss.

2. After careful consideration, we have decided not to consider Mrs B’s complaint further as it falls outside of our time limit.

3. We sincerely thank Mrs B for sharing her experience with us. We are very sorry for any disappointment caused by our decision, which we explain in more detail below.