Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

3. Mrs E complains about the Trust’s decision not to accept a referral for her son, A, in relation to an eating disorder.

4. Mrs E says that this has caused distress.

5. Mrs E is seeking disciplinary action and prosecution.

8. Mrs E submitted a self-referral to the Trust for her son, A, in December 2020. The referral stated A had a limited diet due to intolerance of certain textures and gagging on certain foods.

9. The Trust declined the referral due to A’s GP practice falling outside of its catchment area. The referral also related to an eating disorder service for ARFIDS (Avoidant Resistive Food Intake Disorder) which is something the Trust is not currently commissioned to provide.

10. When Mrs E learned of the decision she complained to the Trust, and it reviewed its decision. Having completed the review, the Trust confirmed A’s care would sit within another NHS Trust.

11. The Trust noted Mrs E had said that due to exceptional circumstances A could not be referred to the other NHS Trust. It asked Mrs E to forward any official documentation, that refers to this decision, for its consideration. However, the Trust received no further documentation from Mrs E and therefore took no further action.

12. We have seen no evidence to contradict the Trust’s view that both Mrs E and A live outside of its catchment area. Furthermore, we are unable to criticise it for failing to provide a service that it is not commissioned to. As such, we can see no indications of a failing with the Trust’s decision to decline the self-referral submitted by Mrs E in December 2020.

13. We can further see that the Trust took reasonable action in inviting Mrs E to provide supporting evidence of the ‘exceptional’ circumstances claimed that would prevent A from attending his local Trust. We have seen no evidence that Mrs E provided any supporting evidence despite the Trust’s request. We will take no further action on Mrs E’s complaint.

1. We have carefully considered Mrs E’s complaint about Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust). We have seen no indication that anything went seriously wrong.

2. We understand Mrs E’s complaint is important to her. Having reviewed the Trust complaints file, and Mrs E’s submissions, we have seen no evidence to contradict the Trust’s view that Mrs E lives outside of the catchment area. We are also unable to criticise an organisation for failing to provide a service that it is not commissioned to. As such, we can see no indications of a failing with the Trust’s decision to decline the self-referral submitted by Mrs E, on behalf of her son, A, in December 2020.