An independent provider in the City of Brighton and Hove area

3. Miss B complains about the lack of spinal treatment provided by Sussex MSK Partnership (the Trust) between January 2022 and July 2023. She says the Trust and consultants involved in her care: • wrongly discharged her from treatment, saying she no longer met the criteria for care • did not properly assess her or offer necessary spinal treatment • relied on NICE guidance rather than her individual clinical needs • told her no further help was available.

4. Miss B says this has caused severe pain, loss of mobility, emotional distress and financial hardship.

5. She would like: • spinal treatment to restart • £30,000 financial compensation • clarification about the NICE guidance used to refuse treatment.

6. Miss B raised concerns with the Trust between September and October 2022 about delays in treatment. The records show clinicians advised her in October 2022 that further spinal injections were not considered appropriate at that time and that she was under neurosurgical review.

7. She attended further consultations and underwent denervation treatment in March 2023 (restoring function to muscles after nerve injury or intentionally interrupting nerve signals to relieve pain or reduce muscle overactivity). By July 2023 she was told that no further interventional treatment would be offered and that she had been discharged from the service.

8. Miss B made a formal complaint to the Trust in April 2024. The Trust issued its final response on 22 May 2024, explaining that clinicians considered further spinal injections were not appropriate and that this decision was consistent with relevant guidance.

9. Miss B brought her complaint to us in July 2025.

11. The law says a person should normally bring their complaint to us within 12 months of becoming aware they have reason to complain. We cannot investigate complaints brought later than this unless we consider it reasonable to do so.

12. The evidence shows Miss B was aware of the issue she has brought to us by July 2023 at the latest, as this is when she was told that no further treatment would be provided and she was discharged from the Trust. She therefore needed to bring her complaint to us by July 2024 to be within our time limit.

13. Miss B brought her complaint to us in July 2025. Her complaint is therefore around one year outside the statutory time limit.

14. We discussed this with Miss B to understand why she was unable to complain sooner. She explained she had been dealing with serious ongoing health problems, severe pain, the effects of hand surgery in December 2024, physical difficulty typing and writing, housing instability in 2023 and significant emotional distress. She also described how these circumstances affected her ability to prepare and pursue her complaint.

15. We recognise these were very difficult circumstances and have taken them carefully into account. We also considered the time taken for local resolution to conclude. As the Trust only took a month to respond to the complaint, we cannot say that this added to the delay in bringing the complaint to us.

16. We appreciate that Miss B said that she was dealing with her health problems during this time which made it difficult for her to complain. We can see that she complained to the Trust in April 2024 which shows that she was able to prepare a complaint at that time. Once she received a response from the Trust in May 2024, if she had brought her complaint to us following this, she would have been within the time limit.

17. She also said that the effects of her hand surgery were a contributing factor, however, we have seen that this was in December 2024, after we consider Miss B should have brought her complaint to us.

18. It took Miss B a further 14 months to bring the complaint to us after receiving the Trust’s final response in May 2024. We can see from our records that Miss B contacted us in March, April and August 2024. We can see from the phone notes that each time Miss B contacted us she was told about our time limit and the need to submit her complaint to us as soon as possible. In August Miss B said she was gathering all the evidence and that she would post it to us. Miss B did then not send the information for 11 months.

19. As Miss B was able to complain to the Trust in April 2024 and contact us around the same time, and as she was told about our time limit on each occasion, we do not consider that we have seen good enough reason to put the time limit to one side. For this reason, we are not investigating the complaint further.

20. We do not wish to understate the seriousness of what Miss B has described or the impact these events have had on her. We thank her for bringing her concerns to us. While we are unable to take further action, we hope this explanation is helpful.

1. We have carefully considered Miss B’s complaint about musculoskeletal services at the Trust. She says the decision to stop her spinal treatment has had a serious and lasting impact on her health, mobility, wellbeing and finances. We recognise how distressing these events have been for her.

2. Miss B’s complaint has been brought to us outside the 12-month time limit set by law. We have considered whether there is a good reason to set that time limit aside. Taking all the circumstances into account, we have decided we cannot set the time limit to one side as we consider Miss B could have brought her complaint to us sooner. As such we cannot investigate this complaint further. We appreciate that this decision will be disappointing for Miss B.