Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust

3. Mr L complains about aspects of the care and treatment the Trust provided to his partner, Ms T. His concerns include the Trust:

• failed to provide adequate hydration and nutrition during Ms T’s admission • did not respond appropriately to repeated concerns about her rapid deterioration • did not recognise or take account of her known history of depression when making significant decisions about her care • failed to send information about pain medication when transferring Ms T to the hospice • provided information in its complaint response that was incomplete or inaccurate

4. Mr L says because of what happened, Ms T became severely malnourished and was too weak to receive the treatment she had been expecting. Mr L told us he believes Ms T’s death could have been avoided. He said it was deeply upsetting to see her needs going unnoticed, her mental health misunderstood, and her final days affected by missing medication information.

5. To resolve his concerns, Mr L is seeking financial redress.

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 Mr L about this to understand his circumstances and the outcomes he is hoping to achieve. Mr L has told us he is seeking a financial remedy of £15,000 for the impact of the Trust’s actions.

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

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

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

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