A medical practice in the Thurrock area

4. Mr A says the Practice took too long to assess his son’s cancer symptoms and did not refer him for tests or a scan quickly enough.

5. Mr A says his son's cancer would not have been as advanced as Stage 4 if the Practice referred him for tests and a scan sooner.

6. Mr A says his wife is going through counselling due to the traumatic experience of her son being diagnosed with cancer.

7. Mr A says he stopped working when his son was ill, and this affected him financially.

8. Mr A says he lost between £8,000 and £15,000 in earnings because he was furloughed by his employer when his son was ill. Mr A wants the Practice to compensate him to cover this loss.

9. Mr A says he wants service improvements to make sure this does not happen to another patient.

11. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has the option to take legal action, unless we consider this is unreasonable in the circumstances.

12. We have discussed this with Mr A to understand his circumstances and the outcomes he wants. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look in to. In this case we think it is reasonable for Mr A to pursue a legal route to potentially achieve the compensation he wants.

13. Mr A complains about the care his son, Y, received between August 2020 and October 2020. The concerns that the Practice took too long to refer Y for suspected cancer are serious. Mr A claims the Practice has been negligent in its handling of Y’s care. We think there is a legal route available to Mr A through a potential clinical negligence claim.

14. Mr A explained he was furloughed by his employer when his son was ill so he could care for him. Mr A said he lost out on between £8,000 and £15,000 in earnings because he could not work, and he wants the Practice to compensate him for his loss.

15. We asked Mr A whether he had sought legal advice previously about his complaint and he said he had not. When we asked the reason for this, Mr A said he wanted to follow the process by referring his complaint to our service first. Mr A explained he would seek legal action if our service could not achieve the outcomes he wanted. Mr A explained he had not yet looked into the costs of legal action, but he was aware of no-win no-fee firms and may look into this.

16. We recognise the legal route is not the only option by which Mr A can obtain a financial remedy, as this is something we can recommend following an upheld investigation. However, we think given similar cases we have considered, we may not be able to achieve the full amount of financial remedy Mr A wants, which lies within Level 5 (£3,000 – £9,950) or Level 6 (£10,000 or more) of our severity of injustice scale.

17. We think given the nature of the concerns brought to us, there is a possibility of a potential negligence claim and the compensation Mr A could achieve through that route would be higher than we would recommend.

18. We note Mr A also wants to ensure the same course of events do not happen to another patient, and we are mindful we can make recommendations for service improvements.

19. We consider that while most legal remedy is financial, service improvements such as those sought by Mr A, can be achieved as a consequence of successful legal action.

20. We think the concerns brought to us by Mr A are serious, and we recognise they have been significantly distressing for the whole family. We were sorry to hear about the family’s experience and how it continues to particularly affect Mr A’s wife, who is undergoing counselling. We were pleased to hear Y’s health has improved, and we hope he continues to recover well from a serious condition.

21. We consider Mr A has a legal remedy available to him and that it is reasonable for him to pursue it. We consider that if Mr A does not achieve the outcome he wants through the legal route, he may be able to bring his complaint back to us.

1. We have carefully considered Mr A’s complaint about a medical practice in the Thurrock area (the Practice). We will not investigate Mr A’s complaint further as we consider Mr A could take legal action on the matter that he has brought to us.

2. We consider the concern Mr A brought to us about the Practice taking too long to refer his son when he had cancer symptoms, is suitable to be considered via a legal route. This is because of the amount of compensation Mr A wants.

3. Mr A told us how significantly the experience affected him and his family, and the lasting distress this has had on his wife in particular. We are sorry to hear of this and understand the difficulty in bringing this complaint to us.