University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust

4. Mrs X complains about the care and treatment the Trust gave her father, Mr Y, in July 2021 prior to his death.

5. The Trust admitted Mr Y to hospital in July 2021. His condition deteriorated and he sadly died ten days later.

6. Mrs X complained to the Trust on 22 August 2021 about her father’s care and treatment. We were sorry to read how much the experience impacted on her.

7. The Trust gave a written response to this complaint on 18 November 2021. Mrs X was not happy with the response and sent a follow up letter on 30 November 2021. A local resolution meeting was arranged for 25 April 2022 but was subsequently postponed as Mrs X was unwell.

8. Further meetings were arranged for 26 September and 31 October 2022 but these were also postponed. A meeting finally took place on 26 July 2023. This was followed by a letter from the Trust on 2 August 2023 providing a link to a video recording of the meeting.

9. Mrs X brought her complaint to us on 24 November 2023.

The time Mrs X took to bring the complaint

12. The law says a person needs to make their complaint to us within a year of becoming aware of the problem. We cannot investigate complaints brought to us after one year, unless we consider there is a good reason to do so.

13. We consider the date Mrs X became aware of the issues she is complaining about was in July 2021. We call this awareness the date of knowledge. This means that when we were contacted in April 2023, her complaint at that stage was between 8 to 9 months outside our time limit. When she brought her complaint to us in November 2023 it was at least 15 months outside our time limit.

14. We asked Mrs X for more detailed information about the timeline of her complaint to understand the reasons why she could not bring her complaint sooner. However, Mrs X has not provided the detail requested despite requests for this. We have therefore considered the evidence that is available to us to reach our decision.

15. Mrs X made her initial complaint to the Trust in August 2021. The Trust responded in November 2021. The Trust letter referred to PHSO but suggested Mrs X contact the Trust’s Patient Relations with any remaining concerns.

16. Mrs X sent a follow up letter to the Trust on 30 November 2021. The Trust arranged a meeting to discuss the outstanding issues on 25 April 2022. However this was postponed as Mrs X was unwell.

17. Mrs X’s husband contacted the Trust almost three months later on 19 July 2022 requesting the meeting be re-arranged. We have Mrs X for a detailed explanation for this delay but none has been provided. The Trust arranged a second meeting for 26 September 2022. However, only the doctor involved in Mr Y’s care was available and therefore the decision was made to postpone the meeting again.

18. The Trust immediately arranged for a further meeting to take place on 31 October 2022. However, this too was postponed as Mrs X was unwell. The Trust has a record of a call on that day from Mrs X’s husband advising she was unwell and undergoing bowel treatment. The Trust wrote to Mrs X that same day advising that as this was the third cancellation no further meetings would be offered due to the impact this was having on staff and their patients.

19. There is no record of any further contact between the Trust and Mrs X until 25 April 2023. That was a period of almost six months. Mrs X was aware from the Trust’s letter sent in November 2021 that she could bring her complaint to us but it does not appear that any contact was made with us until April 2023. By this time, the complaint was 8 to 9 months outside our time limit. We have asked Mrs X for an explanation of what happened during that period of delay but none has been provided. We consider it was reasonable to have expected Mrs X or her family to have contacted us sooner as the Trust’s letter indicated that it would not be taking any further action regarding the complaint.

20. The Trust has a record of a telephone call it made to Mrs X on 25 April 2023. This said that we had asked the Trust to contact Mrs X to arrange a further meeting. A meeting took place on 26 July 2023. The Trust sent a final letter to Mrs X on 2 August 2023. Mrs X wrote to us on 24 November 2023 which was over 15 months outside our time limit We have asked Mrs X for an explanation of what happened during that further period of delay of over three months between August and November 2023 but none has been provided.

21. Mrs X was aware in November 2021 that she could bring her complaint to us. We recognise that Mrs X was unwell on occasions and this has contributed to the delay in the matter being brought to us. However, there was an opportunity to bring the matter to us sooner between November 2022 and April 2023 and again after the Trust letter in August 2023. We think it is reasonable to expect Mrs X to have acted sooner during those periods. This may have prevented her complaint from going even further outside our time limit. In the circumstances, we have not seen enough evidence to justify a decision for us to set aside our time limit.

22. The complaint was brought to us outside of our time limit. For the reasons set out above, we do not see good reason to set our time limit to one side.

23. We were very sorry to hear about how upset Mrs X and her mother have been. It is clear it has been a very difficult period for her and her family, and we understand how much this complaint means to her. It is important we consider and act within the law and we regret any further upset this decision may cause. We hope that this statement clearly explains the reasons why we will not be considering the complaint further.

1. We have carefully considered Mrs X’s complaint about the Trust. We were sorry to hear of her concerns about her father’s care and treatment in July 2021 and of the impact his loss has had on her and her mother.

2. After considering the relevant information, we have seen that the complaint falls outside of our 12-month time limit. We consider the time taken by Mrs X to bring her complaint to us are the reasons the complaint is outside our time limit. For this reason, we will not consider the complaint further.

3. We appreciate the time Mrs X committed to making this complaint and recognise this decision will be disappointing. We explain in this statement the reasons for our decision.