A GP practice in the Sefton area

3. Mr A complains about the care and treatment he had from the Practice for his knee pain from May 2022 to March 2023.

4. Mr A says the Practice did not:

• book X-rays with the hospital • give painkillers (co-codamol) when he needed them • give correct information about his knee pain or right hip pain • keep him informed and updated.

5. Mr A also complains about the care and treatment he got from the Trust from August 2022 to May 2023. Mr A says the Trust gave him confusing information about his knee and hip pain and delayed giving him a knee replacement.

6. Mr A says he has had pain because the Practice and the Trust delayed giving him the right treatment. Mr A says:

• he is not able to do simple daily tasks • he is in continuing pain • he has difficulty sleeping because of the pain • daily he has feelings of depression, hopelessness and worry • he has to take medication to ease his pain • he has difficulty running his business • he has experienced a financial loss • he has lost opportunities for more than a year because of what has happened.

7. Mr A wants the Practice and the Trust to admit to and apologise for its failings and the impact they have had on him. He wants both organisations to make improvements to their service to make sure this does not happen again. He would also like a financial payment for the effect it has had on him.

8. Mr A first went to the Practice about his right knee and hip pain on 3 May 2022. When he made his complaint to us in April 2023, Mr A was still waiting for a date for both knee and hip replacement surgery.

11. 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.

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.

13. Mr A says he continues to be in pain which affects his mobility and the running of his business, which has led to financial loss.

14. We acknowledge the life changing impact the knee and hip pain has had on Mr A and the life opportunities he has lost.

15. As Mr A says delays and poor care have affected his life, he may be able to make a clinical negligence claim. Clinical negligence is when a patient is injured by treatment they have had. Refusing to give treatment could also be negligence.

16. Mr A told us he had contacted a solicitor to look into his case on a ‘no win, no fee basis’. He says the solicitor has asked the Practice and the Trust for records. Mr A said he has also taken out extra insurance to pay for fees if he does not get what he wants.

17. It is reasonable for Mr A to look into making a legal claim which may result in more compensation than we may be able to recommend, if the claim is successful.

18. Mr A also wants the organisations to accept what they did wrong and an apology for how he was affected. He also wants improvements to be made so the same things do not happen again.

19. If Mr A does not achieve these outcomes he wants by taking legal action, he can come back to us to look at his complaint again. We may be able to look at parts of the complaint that were not dealt with by a court. We will not look at the complaint until legal action is completed.

20. If Mr A needs to come back to us he should do this without delay because we have time limits for investigating complaints.

21. We hope this clearly explains our decision not to consider Mr A’s complaint at this time.

1. We have carefully considered Mr A’s complaint about a GP practice in the Sefton area (the Practice) and Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (the Trust). We are sorry to hear about Mr A’s experience.

2. We have discussed the complaint with Mr A and how it has affected him. We think it is reasonable for Mr A to take legal action to gets what he wants and to put things right for him. For this reason, we have decided to take no further action at this time.