Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust

3. Ms X complains about aspects of care and treatment the Trust provided to her mother in September 2022. Ms X specifically says:

• Mrs A was informed that she had a cancer diagnosis on admission when in fact she had gallstones • Family members were not informed of the damage to both arms caused by the cannula used to administer fluids and collect blood samples • On one occasion it was noted that Mrs A had pain to the right arm, and she had hardened veins under the skin causing her great discomfort. Staff were informed immediately and asked not to use this site again. The family believe that this arm was used again • Mrs A was left for a long time on ward 22 (short stay) on admission • There was a delay in Mrs A being transferred to ward 35 to begin her treatment • Mrs A’s surgery was delayed. The details around this and the surgery outcome or any complications were not communicated to the family • Ms X was asked to give Mrs A her medication via a syringe on Sunday 7 November 2022. She did not know what was in the syringe and no information was given by the nurse • Ms X would like to know if her mother missed any medication doses, thus, missing important treatment • Mrs A was not reviewed by a dietician and not offered any nutritional supplements, despite the family raising concerns that she was not eating properly • Whilst on ward 35 Mrs A was not offered any physiotherapy and did not leave the bed • Ward staff did not communicate Mrs A’s deterioration with her family sooner • The Trust did not fulfil its duty of candour • There was a lack of honesty and transparency from the Trust around Mrs A’s care and treatment.

4. Ms X says the failings led to her mother’s untimely death. She says this and the unanswered questions round Mrs A’s death caused her and other members of Mrs A’s family significant emotional distress.

5. As an outcome of this complaint Ms X would like acknowledgement, an explanation of the failings, and financial compensation.

8. The Health Service Commissioners Act says we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has (or had) the option to get an answer to their concerns by taking legal action, unless we consider this is unreasonable in the circumstances.

9. We have discussed this with Mrs B to understand Ms X’s circumstances and the outcomes she wants. Mrs B told us Ms X has instructed a solicitor to commence legal action against the Trust, that the solicitor has accepted the case, and the legal process is still currently ongoing.

10. We can see there is a legal course of action available as Ms X is already in the process of pursuing that route and has secured legal representation. Ms X has made a legal claim for clinical negligence for the issues she has raised. Negligence, in law, is an act or failure to act (omission), that does not meet the level of appropriate care expected, which results in injury or loss. If a doctor or health professional is negligent when giving you medical treatment, this is called ‘clinical negligence’.

11. We are satisfied there is an alternative legal route that Ms X is pursuing, which may provide the outcomes she seeks, and we can see there are no barriers to her making a legal claim as it has been accepted by a solicitor. In view of this, we are not able to take any further action.

12. If Ms X’s circumstances change in such a way that it is no longer reasonable for her to take legal action and she still has unresolved issues or outcomes that cannot be considered or remedied by the courts, she can ask us to consider her complaint again. If she does decide to return to us, she should bring her complaint back to us promptly. This is because we would need to consider our own time limits for a person to complain to us, in line with the ‘Health Service Commissioners Act 1993’.

13. We are very sorry to hear about what Mrs A’s sad death and how this has affected Ms X and other family members. We thank Ms X for bringing her concerns to us and hope this statement clearly explains why we will not be considering her concerns further.

1. We have carefully considered Ms X’s complaint about the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (the Trust). Ms X complained about aspects of the care and treatment the Trust provided to her mother, Mrs A. Ms X complains about failings in care that she believes contributed to her mother’s sad death. We were very sorry to hear about the impact her loss has had and continues to have.

2. We have decided to not take further action at this time because we consider it is reasonable for Ms X to continue to explore taking legal action on the issues she brought to us. We explain further below.