Pain management/ examination
15. We have seen during early stages of labour Mr L requested morphine injections on behalf of his wife on multiple occasions. Mr L explained she had experienced three previous natural labours in another country, and this had been her pain relief choice at those times. On every occasion the Trust refused his request. Consequently, his wife had no other choice of pain relief other than oral pain relief.
16. In the Trust’s complaint response apologises that Mr L’s wife was only provided with oral pain relief. It explained that ideally, stronger pain relief would be offered such as morphine or an epidural (a nerve blocking injection). It says that morphine requires one to one monitoring and because of staff shortages this was unavailable.
17. It also explained that unfortunately the delivery suite were unable to accommodate her transfer at an earlier point and it apologised for this. It acknowledged that this could have been better communicated to Mr L and his wife at the time.
18. Mr L told us he feels the Trust has been clinically negligence in its management of his wife’s pain. To resolve this matter he wants £20,000 compensation in recognition of the family’s distress.
19. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has (or had) the option to take legal action, unless we consider this is (or was) unreasonable in the circumstances. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look in to.
20. The Trust has recognised it did not provide the pain management requested but Mr L has not yet asked it for a financial remedy. Additionally, we could not make a finding of clinical negligence and the level of financial compensation Mr L is seeking is not a level we would normally recommend
21. We have discussed this with Mr L and explained our position. He has agreed it is appropriate for him to explore this with a solicitor, as this matter appears it would be better addressed via a legal route. For this reason we are not considering this part of his complaint further.
Discriminative behaviour
22. Mr L says he and his wife were discriminated against by the initial midwife they saw during early labour. Specifically, he says they were treated unfavourably on account of their race. We were very sorry to hear about this experience.
23. In its complaint response the Trust told Mr L it had arranged an internal investigation with the midwife’s actions following his complaint. The Trust apologised for Mr L and his wife’s experience and reassured them that the matter would be explored further. It also offered to provide counselling for his wife.
24. The Trust’s response indicates it has taken action to explore this issue with staff but it has not shared its findings with Mr L. We recognise not all internal HR investigations will be public.
25. Mr L says to resolve this part of his complaint he wants to know action has been taken against the midwife involved, and he wants a finding of discrimination to be reached.
26. Before we decide if we should conduct a detailed investigation of a complaint, we look at whether there is an organisation that is better placed to deal with the concerns. Some complaints can be looked at by us, and also by other organisations.
27. We have considered whether another organisation is better suited to giving an answer to the complaint and whether it can provide the outcome Mr L seeks.
28. Given the outcomes Mr L is seeking he would be better placed to raise his concerns with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). This is the organisation responsible for ensuring midwives are fit to practice and providing their registration to do so. We have discussed this with Mr L and he understands the limitations of our role, and the function of the NMC.
29. Additionally, we have advised Mr L it would be for a court to make a finding on if discrimination has occurred. As explained above Mr L has agreed a legal route is best suited to addressing his concerns.
30. For these reasons we have deicide not consider this part of his complaint any further.
31. We thank Mr L for bringing his complaint to us, we appreciate it has been a difficult experience for the family. We hope our explanation show the thorough consideration we have given to his complaint.