Stockport NHS Foundation Trust

3. Mrs P complains about the care and treatment Stockport NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust) provided to her husband, Mr P. She says the Trust failed to prescribe her husband with blood thinning medication before discharging him from hospital following surgery on 22 October 2024.

4. As a result, Mrs P says her husband developed a blood clot and he died due to thromboembolism. This has caused significant distress to Mrs P and her family.

5. Mrs P is seeking service improvements and a financial remedy.

7. The Health Service Commissioner Act 1993 (the law) says we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has the option to take legal action, unless we consider this is unreasonable in the circumstances. We have discussed this with Mrs P 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.

8. Mrs P says the Trust’s failings in care caused her husband’s death. It appears she could potentially pursue a clinical negligence claim. In line with our legislation, we have considered whether it would be reasonable for her to do so.

9. Mrs P says she is seeking a financial remedy of approximately £250 000. We do not consider compensation in the same way as the courts and the amounts we can recommend are typically much more modest in comparison. A court would be able to carefully consider and assess an appropriate amount of compensation, including any claim for potential lost future earnings. We would not want to disadvantage Mrs P by ‘under settling’ the claim when it would be more appropriate for her to go through a legal process.

10. Mrs P says she followed the complaints process and brought her complaint to us as the next stage. Our process is not a precursor to somebody pursing a legal claim. The law says if somebody may be able to achieve the outcome they are seeking via legal action, they should do so first, before completing our process. Mrs P has said there are no barriers to her obtaining legal advice and she is able to do so.

11. Mrs P is also seeking service improvements. Whilst legal action could not be taken with this sole purpose, service improvements could potentially be a by- product of legal action.

12. Given the significant level of financial remedy Mrs P is seeking and there are no barriers, we consider it would be reasonable for her to pursue a legal remedy. If there are any outstanding outcomes that cannot be achieved through the legal claim or if Mrs P finds she is unable to pursue legal action after obtaining advice, she can bring the complaint back to us to consider further.

13. We understand how important Mrs P’s complaint is to her and we thank her for taking the time to bring it to us.

1. We have carefully considered Mrs P’s complaint about Stockport NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust). We are very sorry to hear about Mrs P’s concerns and appreciate it has been a very distressing and difficult time for her and her family.

2. We consider Mrs P could take legal action on the matter she has brought to us, and we will not take any further action at this stage.