Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust

3. Miss C complains that if her mother, Mrs C, did have a heart attack on 11 July 2024 as the Trust said she did, that the Trust failed to: • tell her mother this had happened, • give her mother the care and treatment she needed with the appropriate urgency, or • give her mother all the medications she needed that she was taking at home.

4. Very sadly, Mrs C died at the Trust on 13 July 2024. Miss C says if the Trust had told her mother, she would have shared this news and as a family they would have known things were more serious. She says if the Trust had given her mother the care, treatment and medications she needed, her mother would not have died when she did. Miss C considers her mother’s death both premature and preventable.

5. To resolve her complaint, Miss C would like the Trust to acknowledge its failings and apologise for their impact. She seeks improvements, for lessons to be learned and action taken to reduce the chance of these events happening to anyone else. Miss C also seeks a financial payment, in recognition of the impact caused by these failings.

8. The law that governs the Ombudsman’s powers, the Health Service Commissioners Act 1993, says we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has the option to take legal action to achieve the remedy they seek, unless we consider this unreasonable in the circumstances.

9. We do not base our decision on how successful legal action would be. Rather, we consider whether legal action is a reasonable option for someone to pursue.

10. We discussed this with Miss C who told us she is currently in the process of pursuing her complaint via a solicitor. She explained she is advised she will next hear from her solicitor in June and is therefore anticipating receiving a legal opinion and response to her case.

11. As Miss C not only has the option to take legal action but is currently doing so, in line with the law, we have decided not to consider her complaint further.

1. We thank Miss C for bringing her complaint to us. We are very sorry to have read about what happened. We extend our condolences to Miss C for the loss of her beloved mother. We understand how important this complaint is to her.

2. We have decided not to consider Miss C’s complaint any further, as she is currently pursuing it via legal action.