A medical centre in the Bedford area

3. Mrs W complains on behalf of her husband, Mr W, about the care and treatment he received from the Practice in December 2018. Specifically, Mrs W complains staff did not correctly investigate her husband’s symptoms and he was sent home with a misdiagnosis of kidney stones.

4. Mrs W believes there was a missed opportunity to treat her husband’s symptoms sooner. It has also caused a lot of stress and worry for Mrs W and her family.

5. Mrs W would like a financial remedy.

6. This is a brief summary of events to put the complaint in context. We have not included all the details as those involved are already aware of this information.

7. Mr W attended the Practice in December 2018, with symptoms of blood in his urine. At his consultation, staff advised him that based on his symptoms, it was likely he was suffering from kidney stones.

8. Mr W changed to a different Practice and attended this after his symptoms had returned, and he was then referred to a hospital. Following tests and investigations at the hospital, he was diagnosed with bladder cancer.

Staff did not correctly investigate Mr W’s symptoms and he was sent home with a misdiagnosis of kidney stones.

10. Our Service Model Guidance (SMG, 3.13), the guidance which underpins the work that we do, says there may be times when we decide we should not investigate a complaint made to us. This includes when the outcome sought in a complaint is not achievable by us.

11. This guidance also says there may be times that an investigation is not practical, as we would not reach a satisfactory conclusion, and there would be no value in providing that response to a complaint through an investigation.

12. When we spoke to Mrs W in March 2022 to summarise her complaint, she explained the outcome she was seeking was a financial remedy only. However, she did not have a specific amount in mind she wanted to achieve.

13. We explained to Mrs W about our Severity of Injustice Scale, a document which we use for consistency when setting out the levels of financial remedy we may award. We also explained that while we had not identified any failings yet, we would consider her complaint would fall into a level three (£500 - £950) for the stress, frustration, inconvenience and annoyance caused. The top of a level three of our scale for example being situations where there is a loss of opportunity for a better clinical outcome, there is a wider public interest or impairment to an extent on someone’s normal day to day living.

14. We make the distinction this would not be a level four (£1,000 to £2,950) as for that level of financial consideration, we would be looking at cases where the affected person’s suffering was considerably more prolonged and distress lasting over 12 months. However, from Mrs W’s letter to the Practice, dated July 2020, she explained her husband’s symptoms did not return until Easter 2020. From this, it is our understanding Mr W did not have a continued period of worry or distress over 12 months.

15. Informed by our service model, we have explained to Mrs W the amount that is possible to award. Though Mrs W has not disclosed the amount she is seeking, in her complaint she explains this to be ‘compensation’. Mrs W noted she would not accept the level of financial remedy we discussed.

16. In line with our own policy, we have offered Mrs W to reconsider the amount and she has declined this. As we cannot reach an agreement on the outcomes to proceed with, under the Ombudsman’s own general discretion, we propose to take no further action on this complaint.

17. We would like to thank Mrs W for bringing her complaint to us for consideration.

1. We have carefully considered Mrs W’s complaint about a medical practice in the Bedford area (the Practice). We were sorry to learn of Mrs W’s concerns that staff did not correctly investigate her husband’s symptoms, and he was sent home with a misdiagnosis of kidney stones.

2. After careful consideration of Mrs W’s complaint, we are unable to achieve the amount of financial remedy Mrs W is seeking. We will therefore take no further action on this complaint.