George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust

3. Mr A complains staff at George Eliot Hospitals NHS Trust did not fully investigate if his mother, Ms B, had a dislocated hip after suffering from an unwitnessed fall.

4. He also complains that, staff at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust did not act on concerns the family raised about Ms B’s hip and did not carry out an X-ray to investigate if this was dislocated.

5. Mr A explains staff eventually carried out an X-ray which showed his mother’s hip had been dislocated for several months. Ms B had to undergo painful, ineffective physiotherapy and had to have a girdle stone procedure to repair damage to her hip which could have been avoided had this been diagnosed sooner. Sadly, Ms B is now permanently wheelchair bound and must be cared for in residential care. Mr A explains the undiagnosed hip dislocation accelerated his mother’s need for residential care.

6. Mr A would like a financial remedy and reimbursement of £100,000 to cover the cost of her residential care.

7. Ms B had an unwitnessed fall whilst in hospital (part of George Eliot Hospitals NHS Trust). She suffered from a broken wrist. Her family asked staff to also check if she had a broken hip, as she had surgery on this several weeks prior. The hospital said it checked this but her hip was not injured.

8. For the next few weeks, Ms B was transferred between a care home and two other hospitals (part of University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust) as she began to suffer from delirium. Her family raised several different concerns about her hip but sadly staff did not act on these.

9. Staff at Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust carried out an X-ray of Ms B’s hip and discovered that it had been dislocated for several months. A few days later, staff carried out surgery on Ms B’s hip. Ms B has had to remain in residential care and is now wheelchair bound.

12. 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.

13. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look into. We have discussed this with Mr A to understand his circumstances and the outcomes he wants to achieve.

14. Mr A’s key concerns relate to the clinical issues around the care and treatment his mother received at the three Trusts. He explains the failings in her care caused her to suffer from a dislocated hip and unnecessary pain and discomfort for over one month. He also explains this accelerated her need for residential care. He would like a large financial remedy to help put matters right. This suggests he does have a clinical negligence claim available.

15. After discussing this with Mr A, he confirmed he would like a large financial remedy of £100,000. The courts are normally better suited to achieve higher sums such as this. We told Mr A this and he confirmed this was his main outcome.

16. We asked Mr A if there were any reasons that may prevent him from seeking a resolution to his concerns through the legal route. Mr A told us he followed the complaints process and approached us soon after receiving his final response as he did not want to miss our time limit for considering complaints. This suggests that there are no barriers to him considering the legal route at this stage.

17. Because of these reasons, and the significant financial sum he is seeking, it appears in his best interests to explore the legal route further. For this reason, we cannot consider his concerns further at this stage.

18. If Mr A is unable to pursue legal action, he may decide to bring his complaint back to us. If this happens, we will need to consider out legal time limit, so it is important he returns promptly. We will also check how far he got with the legal process to understand why he returned to us. This is because we may be limited in what we can then consider.

1. We recognise the circumstances surrounding Mr A’s complaint have been very difficult for him, his family and his mother. We would like to thank him for taking the time to raise his complaint with us.

2. After careful consideration, we feel Mr A could take legal action on the matters he has brought to us. For this reason, we cannot consider his concerns further at this stage. We have explained this in further detail below.