Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

3. Mrs O complains about the following aspects of care the Trust provided:

• concerns with her bladder at ultrasound scan in 2016 were not acted on • an MRI scan in April 2016 did not have the correct sequence to check for endometriosis (a condition where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus) • in May 2022, when hospitalised with sepsis thought to be gynaecological in nature, a gynaecologist did not review her during the admission. She also complains the Trust did not pass concerns raised from an MRI scan to her gynaecological surgeon • during surgery in August 2022, a Mirena coil (a type of contraception) was implanted and she has experienced bleeding every day since then • she received a letter from the hospital incorrectly telling her a biopsy taken during her surgery was clear when it was actually ‘insufficient for assessment’ • that during a follow up appointment in October 2022, her consultant advised there was no gynaecological cause for her ongoing symptoms and discharged her. She feels the consultant should have referred her to a specialist gynaecological service instead.

4. Mrs O says the issues in care resulted in a delay to her endometriosis and continued bleeding being diagnosed. She said she underwent further surgery in July 2023 with another hospital Trust during which the surgeon removed endometriosis.

5. Mrs O says she has had 430 days of unexplained bleeding and pain since August 2022. She says the issues have affected her mental health and she previously felt suicidal. She said she has extreme anxiety around attending gynaecology appointments. Mrs O says this has affected all areas of her life.

6. As an outcome to her complaint, Mrs O would like an acknowledgement of failings, an apology, and service improvements. She would also like financial compensation, proper explanations and assurances that other patient will not suffer the same way she has.

8. The Health Service Commissioners Act 1993 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 Mrs O to understand her circumstances and the outcomes she wants. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look in to.

9. Mrs O told us that as an outcome to her complaint, she would like the Trust to acknowledge its failings, apologise, and put service improvements in place to ensure similar mistakes do not happen again. Mrs O could not pursue these outcomes by taking legal action, however she told us she is aware they may be a by-product of legal action.

10. She would also like financial compensation which she could potentially pursue through legal action. She told us she is only seeking a small amount.

11. Mrs O told us that she is currently in contact with her a solicitor who is reviewing her case and has been doing for the last couple of months. She said the solicitor is looking at her concerns about the Trust as well as two other NHS organisations to see if they can proceed.

12. Given that Mrs O currently has a solicitor reviewing her concerns about the Trust, we cannot take her case forward at this time. Mrs O should wait to see what the outcome of the solicitor’s review finds to see if they can take her case forward.

13. If Mrs O finds she is unable to take legal action, she can return her complaint to us and we may be able to consider it further. She should do this as soon as possible, as usually we expect that complaints must be brought to us within 12 months of the person complaining becoming aware of the issues raised. We can sometimes put our time limit to one side if it is reasonable to do so.

1. We were very sorry to hear of the difficulties Mrs O has had with her health and for the impact this has had on her. We were also sorry to hear of the concerns she has about the care and treatment she received for these.

2. We have carefully considered Mrs O’s complaint about the Trust. Mrs O has told us a solicitor is currently reviewing her concerns to see if she can take legal action. As such, we cannot take her complaint further at this time. We appreciate this may be a disappointing decision. We have explained our reasons for this below.