Barts Health NHS Trust

3. Mr H complains about how clinicians responded to his mother’s worsening health while she was in the Hospital. He believes they did not monitor her properly or provide her with the medication she needed. He is also unhappy about communication and cleanliness.

4. Mr H believes clinicians missed opportunities to prevent his mother’s death. He wants the Trust to accept its failings and pay him compensation.

6. 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 Mr H to understand her circumstances and the outcomes he wants. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look in to.

7. In our conversation with Mr H we discussed the outcomes he would be satisfied with if we were to uphold his complaint. He was clear that, while he would appreciate it if the Trust accepted accountability for what happened, the main aim for him was to receive a significant compensation payment.

8. Mr H told us he had yet to contact a solicitor because he thought the correct process was to complain to us first. He agreed that he would like to explore whether his family could receive compensation and said he will seek legal advice.

9. If there is a clear reason why he is prevented from taking legal action it is possible we could consider his complaint again. But he would need to contact us without delay because we have a time limit. We do not normally investigate incidents that happened more than a year ago, unless there is a clear reason why a complainant was unable to contact us.

10. We can see how upsetting these events have been for Mr H. We are sorry we cannot help him on this occasion.

1. We have carefully considered Mr H’s complaint about the Trust. Mr H complains about aspects of the care and treatment clinicians from one of the Trust’s hospitals (the Hospital) gave to his mother in February 2023. He believes failings led to his mother's death. We can see how devastating these events have been for Mr H and his family. We offer them our sincere condolences for their loss.

2. We have decided not to start a detailed investigation because we consider Mr H could take legal action about the matter he brought to us. We recognise this will be disappointing for Mr H.