University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust

3. Mrs W complains about the diagnosis and treatment provided by University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (the Trust), to her husband Mr W between September and December 2023. Specifically, she complains the Trust:

•ignored a computerised tomography (CT) radiology report and did not perform an MRI scan •missed chances to diagnose brain cancer sooner •discharged him without any follow-up after he suffered a stroke.

4. Mrs W says the Trust’s failure to do an MRI scan sooner meant her husband was not diagnosed with brain cancer earlier, and meant he missed chances to have treatment to increase his life expectancy. She also says as her husband had no follow up care, he progressively got worse and was unable to walk.

5. Mrs W wants an apology, service improvements and a financial remedy.

7. 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 discussed this with Mrs W to understand what she is complaining about, what the claimed impact on her husband was and what her desired outcomes are. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look into.

8. Mrs W is bringing the complaint to us on behalf of her husband’s estate.

9. In general terms, clinical negligence takes place when a patient who underwent a treatment becomes injured as a result of that treatment. Failure to carry out appropriate treatment could also amount to negligence.

10. Mrs W clearly referenced ‘negligence’ when speaking to us about the care her husband received at the Trust. She clearly feels the care he received was ‘negligent’. She says the Trust did not give her husband an MRI scan that it should have or follow-up on his stroke correctly. She says these actions meant her husband did not receive a brain cancer diagnosis as soon as he should have, and the lack of follow up care meant he got progressively worse. She says the Trust breached its duty of care owed towards her husband.

11. From what Mrs W and the estate is complaining about she is making a possible claim of failure to carry out appropriate treatment which could amount to negligence. She would however need to take legal advice about this matter to establish this and if she could pursue this through the courts.

12. Mrs W told us her and the estate want £12,500 compensation. She told us she is wanting this for the lack of care the Trust gave to her husband. Mrs W wants a significant amount of compensation and that could be achieved via a legal claim. Mrs W could not pursue a legal claim specifically for acknowledgments or service improvements, but this might also be achieved as a byproduct of any legal claim.

13. We asked Mrs W if there were any barriers to her exploring legal action, she told us she is not sure she could go through with it but did not tell us about anything more-specific that would prevent her from doing so. We can understand her apprehensiveness about approaching a solicitor but note a solicitor would be representing her if they took her case on. It would be reasonable at this time for her to take legal advice and pursue this via an alternative legal remedy such as the Courts.

Conclusion

14. There is an alternative legal remedy available to Mrs W and the estate. Having taken all the circumstances into account, we consider it is reasonable for her to explore the possibility of taking legal action to address her complaint to achieve the outcomes she wants.

15. If, having explored legal action, Mrs W is unable to pursue that route, she may return to us if she wants us to consider her complaint. If she does that she should do so without delay as other parts of the law can limit what we can look at if there is any delay in contacting us.

16. We understand this might not be the decision Mrs W was hoping for and we are sorry for any further distress this may cause. We hope we have clearly explained why we have decided not to consider Mrs W complaint any further. We are grateful to her for taking the time to tell us about her very difficult experience.

1. We have carefully considered Mrs W’s complaint about the care University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (the Trust) provided to her husband. We are sorry to hear about the impact this had on her and her family and for the loss of her husband. We understand she went through a very difficult and distressing time.

2. We have considered the circumstances of the complaint and what Mrs W told us and have decided to take no further action at this time. This is because we think there is a legal route available for her and her husband’s estate to achieve the outcomes she wants. We are sorry for any additional distress this may cause and hope our explanations below show how we have fully considered her complaint.