A GP practice in the Hertfordshire area

4. Mr O complains about the care and treatment he got from the Practice between 5 July and 3 August 2021 and the complaint handling of NHS England between March 2022 and February 2023. Mr O complains the Practice did not diagnose his bladder problem correctly and missed the diagnosis of hydronephrosis (where one or both kidneys become stretched and swollen because of a build-up of urine inside them).

5. Mr O complains NHS England did not investigate his complaint about the Practice correctly.

6. Mr O says he did not get treatment quick enough and was left with the symptoms for longer.

7. Mr O says he was frustrated by NHS England’s complaint handling.

8. Mr O says he wants financial compensation of £5,000 and for the organisations to accept their mistakes.

9. Mr O went to the Practice with a large lump under his belly button on 5 July 2021. His GP referred him for an ultrasound scan, which they did on 14 July. The diagnosis of the lump was fatty tissue and the Practice decided no more treatment was needed.

10. In a private consultation in January 2022, Mr O said he was told the lump was his bladder sticking out, not fatty tissue. He was then diagnosed with hydronephrosis.

11. Mr O complained to the Practice. He then complained to NHS England and says it did not correctly investigate his complaint.

Misdiagnosis

14. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has (or had) the option to take legal action, unless we consider this is (or was) unreasonable in the circumstances. We have discussed this with Mr O 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 into.

15. On 27 September 2023, Mr O said in a phone call he had already started to look into taking legal action. He also said there was nothing to stop him from doing this and he had taken legal advice.

16. We can recommend different levels of compensation but it may be best if Mr O gets legal advice first because legal claims can result in more financial payment than what we would normally recommend.

17. The time limits for taking legal action are strict so it is right for Mr O to do this while he still has time. When he has fully explored legal action or if he is unable to take it, he can contact us and we can look at his complaint again.

18. The law says complaints should be made to us within 12 months of when the person became aware of their concerns. We can put this time limit to one side if there are good reasons for the delay. Mr O needs to brings his complaint back to us as soon as possible if he wants us to look at it again.

19. A court can decide if the Practice was negligent and award compensation for the effect it had on Mr O’s life.

NHS England’s complaint handling

20. We do not think it is in Mr O’s best interests to look at this issue while Mr O takes legal advice for his concerns about the Practice. This is because NHS England’s complaint handling is closely linked to the complaint about the Practice.

21. We will not look at this part of Mr O’s complaint at this time. Mr O can contact us again after legal action or if he is not able to take legal action and we will consider both parts of the complaint together.

1. We have carefully considered Mr O’s complaint about a GP practice in the Hertfordshire area (the Practice) and NHS England.

2. Mr O can take legal action on his complaint about the Practice. The complaint about NHS England cannot be resolved by legal action but we have decided it is not something that we can investigate now.

3. For these reasons, we are not taking any further action. We hope Mr O can get what he wants by taking legal advice, and if he cannot, we can look at his complaint again including his concerns about NHS England.