County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust

4. Ms J complains the Trust included false and damaging information about her in her daughter’s 14 March 2022 cognitive assessment report.

5. Ms J says the report was shared with a number of parties, including her daughter’s school. She says this caused a breakdown in her mental health and led to an attempt to take her own life. Ms J also says she was separated from her daughter for six months as a result. She says significant upset and distress was caused by the Trust’s poor handling of the cognitive assessment report.

6. Ms J wants the Trust to pay her a financial remedy.

7. Ms J’s daughter underwent a cognitive assessment on 16 February 2022. This led to the cognitive assessment report being compiled on 14 March and shared with all stakeholders on 25 April.

10. The law says a person needs to make their complaint to us within a year of becoming aware of the problem they wish to complain about.

11. Ms J became aware of the problem she now complains about on 13 March 2022 and did not approach our Office until 14 March 2024. This means, at first glance, her complaint is 12 months out of time.

12. Having further considered the timeline of events, we can see Ms J complained to the Trust on 13 May 2022. The Trust provided its final response and signposted to our Office on 12 December 2022.

13. At this point, Ms J had all the appropriate paperwork to make her complaint to our Office but did not do so until 14 March 2024. This means her complaint is actually almost 16 months out of time.

14. We asked Ms J what caused the near 16-month delay.

15. Ms J says the reasons for the delay are that she was pursuing custody of her daughter, and this had an impact upon her mental health. She told us she needed to concentrate on keeping herself well enough to pursue full custody. She says as soon as she got full custody, she complained to us straight away. She says she has a poor history of mental health and did not feel she could take on any more during this period.

16. We recognise Ms J has been through a great deal in recent years, but we are not convinced this should justify the sizeable delay in bringing her complaint to our Office.

17. We understand Ms J was pursuing custody of her daughter and acknowledge this will have been a very stressful period for her. However, we do not see bringing a complaint to our office during this same period could be considered too onerous.

18. It is clear from Ms J’s account that this was a difficult period of time for her. If she felt unable to complain herself during this period, she could have considered using an advocate to assist her or represent her. Using an advocate to bring the complaint to us could, for example, have alleviated further stress and any additional impact upon her mental health.

19. Having considered all of Ms J’s reasons, we are not persuaded there is a good enough reason to set aside our time limit. It is our view that the reasons she has provided do not justify the extent of the near 16-month delay in the complaint reaching us. We will therefore take no further action.

20. We recognise how important this complaint is to Ms J, and this is not the outcome she hoped for. Although our decision may be disappointing, we hope she is assured that we have carefully considered her explanations for the delay and that we have explained the reasons for our decision clearly.

1. We have carefully considered Ms J’s complaint about County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust). We are sorry to hear of Ms J’s concerns and the impact she says it has had upon her.

2. Ms J’s complaint falls outside our time limit, and we have decided there is no good reason for us to put this aside. This means we cannot consider the complaint further.

3. We recognise how deeply Ms J has been affected by the events she describes, and we do not underestimate how difficult this time has been for her. Although we are unable to look into Ms J’s concerns further, we thank her for taking the time to raise them with us.