A medical practice in the Lancashire area

2. Mrs A complains that on 12 April 2022 the Practice was negligent in her mother's care. She says it failed to diagnose bronchopneumonia (a type of pneumonia affecting the lungs), ignored her mother’s recent history of interstitial pneumonia (a type of lung disease) and COVID-19, did not do tests, take her temperature or refer her to hospital for more tests.

3. Mrs A says her mother died due to the negligence of the GP. She says had her mother been sent to the hospital for more checks, she would have had a chance of survival. Mrs A says she has suffered with PTSD after doing CPR on her mother and she has been treated for depression.

4. Mrs A would like financial compensation of more than £10,000 for the loss of her mother’s life. Mrs A would like service improvements to make sure this can never happen again.

6. We have carefully considered Mrs A’s complaint about the Practice. We have decided it is reasonable for Mrs A to pursue a legal route.

7. In general terms, clinical negligence takes place when a patient who had treatment becomes injured as a result of that treatment. Failure to carry out appropriate treatment could also amount to negligence.

8. We do not consider compensation in the same way as the courts do, and a court would be able to carefully consider and assess an appropriate amount of compensation for the impact Mrs A claims. We would not want to disadvantage Mrs A by investigating the complaint when it would be more appropriate for her to go through a legal process.

9. While the courts would not normally recommend service improvements, these can be achieved as a by-product of legal action. If failings were found, the Practice may implement service improvements to prevent things going wrong again. If, after legal action, there are any outstanding outcomes that could not be achieved, Mrs A can bring the complaint back to us to consider further.

10. Mrs A has agreed to explore her legal options. She has not given us any reason why she would be unable to. For this reason, we are not looking into Mrs A’s complaint.

1. We have carefully considered Mrs A’s complaint about a medical practice in the Lancashire area. We consider Mrs A could take legal action on the matter she has brought to us. For this reason, we have decided not to consider Mrs A’s complaint further.