Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

3. Ms B complains about the care and treatment Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provided to her sister, Ms P, in August 2025. Specifically, she complains the Trust: • left her sister in the emergency department for eight hours when she needed to be transferred to the intensive care unit for ventilation • did not appropriately monitor and escalate her care and treatment • delayed recognising her deterioration and sepsis • did not allow her to be with her sister at this time.

4. Ms B explains her sister’s death was avoidable and she was left to suffer. This has caused significant distress and compounded her grief and emotional strain.

5. Ms B would like the Trust to acknowledge where it got things wrong, make service improvements and provide a financial remedy.

8. Our policy says there will be occasions when we decide there are reasons why we should not consider a complaint to us. This includes when another organisation is considering the same issues, for example the coroner’s court, and where it seems appropriate for us to wait for the outcome of its work.

9. We understand Ms B is waiting for an inquest. As the inquest will consider the circumstances and cause of her sister’s death, we would choose to wait until the coroner has completed its deliberations before proceeding. This is because this is a key part of the complaint made to us. We would not want to conduct an investigation alongside the coronial process, to avoid any potential overlaps between the two. We also would want to make sure we have as much evidence as possible before considering the case further. It is possible further information and evidence will come to light during the inquest.

10. The main outcome Ms B is seeking is for the Trust to provide her with answers and acknowledge where it got things wrong. She wants it to make service improvements, so this does not happen to anyone else. It is possible she will achieve these outcomes as part of the coroner’s process. We recognise she is also seeking a financial remedy.

11. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has the option to take legal action, unless we consider it is not reasonable for them to do so.

12. When discussing the case with Ms B to understand her circumstances she also explained that she has been exploring legal action. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look into.

13. We recognise from speaking to Ms B she has been unsuccessful in getting a solicitor to take on her case. It is therefore currently unclear if it is reasonable for her to pursue legal action further. However, as she moves through the coronial process, we recognise this may change or become an option.

14. This would prevent us at looking at the case whilst legal action took place. We have discussed this with Ms B and she has acknowledged she would be open to exploring this. Although it is currently unclear if taking legal action is reasonable, if the case returned to us, we may need to revisit this further.

15. We hope the inquest process and proceedings are helpful to Ms B and achieve the outcomes she is seeking. If her circumstance change, or she does not achieve these outcomes, she may be able to return to us for our consideration.

16. We hope we have clearly explained the reasons for our decision not to consider the complaint further at this time. We would like to wish her the very best moving forward.

1. We have carefully considered Ms B’s complaint about the Trust. We were sorry to learn of the reasons for our complaint and would like to take this opportunity to offer our condolences to her. We have decided not to consider the complaint further at this time, as inquest proceedings are ongoing.

2. We thank Ms B for taking the time to contact us and talk to us about what happened. We will explain our decision below.