Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

4. Ms A complains about the care and treatment provided the Trust on 28 February 2023. She says during a routine outpatient appointment to have her gallstones removed under general anaesthetic, her pancreas was damaged. She says despite not being able to keep any food down, she was incorrectly discharged on the same day.

5. She says within an hour of arriving home, after being discharged, she was taken back to hospital by ambulance and was admitted. She says she developed a large pancreatic cyst, which filled with fluid, which could not be drained, and suffered two episodes of pancreatitis.

6. She says she has suffered irreversible damage to her pancreas which will have a life-long impact, and she has a permanent reduced quality of life.

7. Ms A is seeking a financial sum between level five and six of our Severity of Injustice Scale which has an upper limit of £12,500 and above, an acknowledgement of failings, and service improvements.

9. 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 Ms A 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.

10. Ms A told us the Trust caused irreversible damage to her pancreas during a routine operation to remove gallstones. She says she has been left with a permanent reduced quality of life.

11. Ms A is seeking financial compensation for the severe emotional and physical impact she experienced. Ms A initially told us she is seeking £75,000. She told us if we were to look at her case she would be seeking a financial sum between level five and six of our Severity of Injustice Sale, which is between £3750 and over £12,500.

12. On that basis, we consider Ms A may have a potential clinical negligence claim available to her.

13. We asked Ms A if there was any reasons or barriers which may prevent her from exploring a legal route. She told us there are no barriers which would stop her from pursuing this route.

14. Ms A is also seeking service improvements. Courts cannot directly order service improvements, however, these may be achieved as a byproduct of successful legal action.

15. Based on all the above, we cannot see any reason preventing Ms A from exploring legal action.

16. We generally recommend a complainant to seek legal advice from three separate solicitors to gain a wider scope of suitability.

17. Should the legal route be unsuccessful, Ms A can bring her complaint back to our office, and we may consider the complaint further. Ms A should be aware of our time limit to bring her complaint back to us, therefore should return her complaint to us promptly.

18. Furthermore, if Ms A were to return to us after successfully taking legal action, we could consider a complaint about any matters that the court could not look at for her, or if service improvements and an acknowledgement had not been achieved.

19. Ms A has a legal course of action available to her which it would be reasonable for her to pursue, so we will take no further action.

20. We recognise how difficult it has been for Ms A. It is clear it had been a very traumatic time and we wish her the best.

1. We have carefully considered Ms A’s complaint about Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust).

2. We are very sorry to hear of the difficulties Ms A has faced following the operation to remove gallstones.

3. We consider Ms A could take legal action on the matter she has brought to us.