Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust

5. Mr U complains about aspects of care provided by the Trust. Specifically, he complains the Trust failed to: • provide a copy of his care plan until August 2024, after he requested this in May 2024 • provided timely bereavement support after he requested this in June 2024 • provide adequate bereavement support, as the Trust provided only hyperlinks to access and a telephone number to call • provide full answers to all of the complaint issues he raised.

6. As a result, Mr U says he suffered severely mentally. He says he had a near-relapse experience during the period between May and August 2024. This was because he was already in a very vulnerable mental state. He says he requested his care plan because he needed clarity, structure and reassurance about his support at a time when he was struggling to cope day to day. Not being provided with a care plan for several months left him feeling unsupported, anxious and uncertain about what help was actually in place for him.

7. At the same time, he says he was dealing with bereavement. He says he asked for bereavement support in June 2024, but this was not provided until September 2024. The delay meant that he was left to manage his grief on his own during the most difficult period, which significantly worsened his mental health. He experienced increased distress, low mood, sleep disturbance and feelings of isolation.

8. Mr U says when bereavement support was eventually offered, it consisted mainly of hyperlinks and a telephone number, which he found difficult to engage with given his mental health at the time. He says he needed active and guided support, not signposting alone. This made him feel that his situation was not fully understood or taken seriously by the Trust.

9. Overall, Mr U says the lack of timely support and clear care planning by the Trust caused significant stress and contributed to a deterioration in his mental wellbeing. It affected his ability to function, increased his sense of hopelessness and prolonged his recovery during an already extremely difficult period.

10. The Trust’s complaint handling caused Mr U distress. He says medication dosages were also increased which stemmed from all of the above in part and as a whole.

11. As an outcome, Mr U would like a financial remedy, an apology and service changes.

12. In May 2024, Mr U requested a copy of his care plan. He made a number of requests for an updated care plan between May and June 2024.

13. In June 2024, Mr U’s partner sadly suffered a miscarriage and Mr U requested bereavement support from the Trust. The Trust provided Mr U with signposting information to alternative service providers.

14. In November 2024, the Trust met with Mr U to discuss his concerns.

Care plan

18. Mr U complains the Trust did not provide a copy of his care plan after he requested this between a period of May 2024 and August 2024.

19. NICE guidance says people using mental health services work with mental health and social care professionals to jointly develop care plans, ensure that people are given copies of their care plan and agree review dates.

20. The guidance does not specify a specific time frame for a care plan to be provided but a patient must be offered a copy of it after an assessment. Our adviser said usual practice for a care plan to be provided is a few weeks.

21. After reviewing Mr U’s clinical records, there does not appear to be any entry that document Mr U requested a copy of his care plan during the period outlined above. It is unclear if Mr U had been issued a care plan previously as our adviser said the episode of care outlined above is part of a longer period of care.

22. We can see from the records the Trust provided Mr U a copy of his care plan in November 2024.

23. We acknowledge Mr U has told us he requested a copy of his updated care plan on a number of occasions between May and August. We are not doubting what he has told us here.

24. Because we cannot identify exactly when Mr U requested a copy of his care plan, we cannot reach a view as to whether the Trust acted in line with guidance for this issue.

25. Because of the lack of evidence, we cannot consider this part of Mr U’s complaint further. We acknowledge Mr U will be disappointed by this, and that this may cause him frustration.

Bereavement support

26. Before we decide if we should conduct a detailed investigation of a complaint, we look at whether there are signs the organisation has got something wrong. We do this by comparing what should have happened with what did happen. We have done this and have not seen any indication that something has gone wrong here.

27. Mr U complains the Trust provided delayed bereavement support. He says requested bereavement support in June 2024, following his partner’s miscarriage. He says the Trust did not provide this until September 2024. Mr U also complains the bereavement support the Trust provided was inadequate as he was only given hyperlinks to access and a telephone number to call.

28. NHS guidance says grief is a normal reaction to death and there are several agencies that can provide adequate universal support. With this support people will usually find over time this grief improves.

29. The NMC guidance says nurses must respect the skills and expertise of their colleagues, referring matters to them when appropriate. Our adviser said the community mental health team at the Trust would not routinely deal with bereavement as part of their remit. It would usually signpost to relevant external agencies to provide this support.

30. From the records we can see that in September 2024, Mr U said he felt he had no bereavement support when his partner suffered a miscarriage. The same month, the Trust signposted Mr U to Cruse Bereavement Support and encouraged Mr U to engage with this.

31. Cruse provide expert bereavement and grief support.

32. There is also evidence within the records that show Mr U could engage with external agencies, as he had reported he independently engaged with MIND.

33. We recognise here that Mr U has told us he requested bereavement support in June. We acknowledge he will be frustrated that there is no evidence to show he requested this until September. Because of this, we are limited in the view we can reach about this.

34. From the available evidence, we consider there are no indications of failings. The Trust itself would not usually deal with bereavement, but in line with the NMC guidance, it referred Mr U to others who had the skills and expertise to support Mr U.

35. We were sorry to hear of Mr U’s partner’s miscarriage, and we acknowledge this was a very difficult time for him. We hope our decision here provides Mr U reassurance about the Trust’s actions. We hope Mr U was able to access the support he needed after the Trust signposted him to the relevant organisations.

Complaint handling

36. Mr U complains the Trust’s complaint handling was poor. He says it provided partial responses to complaints he made, and some issues were answered while others were not.

37. Our Principles say public bodies should be open and truthful when accounting for their decisions and actions. They should state their criteria for decision making and give reasons for their decisions. It also says public bodies should give people information that is clear, accurate, complete, relevant and timely.

38. After reviewing the complaint file and the issues Mr U raised with the Trust, we consider the Trust has acted in accordance with Our Principles.

39. We can see the Trust gave clear reasoning for the issues Mr U raised. It responded to Mr U’s complaint and explained its decision making. We have not seen anything to suggest the Trust has not addressed Mr U’s concerns.

40. We acknowledge here the differences between Mr U’s recollection of events, and the Trust’s documentation. We understand how these differences have likely impacted the Trust’s responses, and impacted Mr U’s feeling that his complaint was not fully responded to.

41. Mr U complained about a wide range of issues. Some of these include the Trust’s failure to correct inaccurate data, inadequate bereavement support, travel reimbursement claims and denials of crisis support. We think the Trust has provided its explanations clearly and succinctly in a way which is easy to comprehend.

42. After reviewing the Trust responses, we think it has addressed his concerns in line with Our Principles as it has provided a breakdown for the actions it had taken and the reasoning it took these actions. We have therefore seen no indication of failing here.

43. We understand this complaint has affected Mr U and acknowledge this would have been a difficult period for him. We hope our consideration of Mr U’s complaint relating to the Trust have been explained clearly. We will not be considering these issues further. We thank Mr U for bringing his complaint to us.

1. We have carefully considered Mr U’s complaint about Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust). We acknowledge the stress these events have caused Mr U, and the impact this has had on him.

2. We have been unable to reach a robust decision in relation to the Trust providing Mr U a copy of his care plan. We acknowledge this will be frustrating for Mr U, and we are sorry for any distress this causes him.

3. We have seen no indication of failing around the issues Mr U has raised in relation to bereavement support. We have also seen no indication of failing in the Trust’s handling of the issues Mr U has raised.

4. We acknowledge how distressing this period must have been for Mr U while interacting with the Trust. We therefore recognise our decision may be disappointing.