Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust

3. Mrs P complains that in 2023 the Trust raised safeguarding concerns relating to the welfare of her daughter accusing her of fabricating or inducing illnesses.

4. Mrs P explains the accusation caused her a great amount of stress which led to:

• her being diagnosed with anxiety • strain being put on her relationships • her not being able to work.

5. By raising the complaint Mrs P seeks:

• an acknowledgement from the Trust that it lied about the safeguarding referral • a financial remedy to account for stress and inability to work • an apology.

6. In February 2023 Mrs P attended an appointment at the Trust to discuss behaviour her daughter had been displaying.

7. A social worker attended Mrs P’s home in May 2023 where they informed her a safeguarding referral had been made.

8. On 19 May 2023 Mrs P raised a complaint to the Trust regarding the safeguarding referral, which had led to a Child Protection investigation.

9. The Trust responded on 22 September 2023. It said it was reasonable for the safeguarding referral to be made. The Trust signposted Mrs P to our service should she remain unhappy with its response.

10. Mrs P continued to engage with the Trust and on 28 September 2023, the Trust again signposted Mrs P to our service.

11. Mrs P raised an additional concern in February 2025, sixteen months following the previous complaint response being issued.

12. The Trust reopened the original complaint and responded in May 2025 referring to Mrs P’s continued concerns about the safeguarding referral. The Trust signposted our service in this response.

13. Mrs P raised additional concerns in May 2025.

14. The Trust issued a complaint response in October where it referred back to the previous responses where the safeguarding referral had been discussed.

15. As Mrs P remained unhappy she referred the matter to our service on 3 November 2025.

17. The law says a person must bring their complaint to us within one year of becoming aware of the issue. We cannot investigate complaints made outside of this time limit unless we consider there is a good reason to do so.

18. We spoke with Mrs P to understand the timeline of events. She provided a written timeline of events covering actions taken with the Trust as well as other organisations showing appointments and actions taken from February 2023.

19. We have seen was a complaint raised by Mrs P regarding the Trusts safeguarding referral on 19 May 2023.

20. Mrs P tells us the complaint in May 2025 was following a Subject Access Request (SAR) she submitted in March 2025 in which she had seen further information about the safeguarding referral. Mrs P says this new information only became clear once the SAR was provided so she says this is her date of knowledge.

21. While the specific information provided in the SAR was only known later, the essence of the complaint from 2023 remains the same to the one reopened in 2025. The emails show Mrs P’s awareness of her dissatisfaction with the safeguarding referral in 2023. We therefore consider Mrs P’s date of knowledge is May 2023 when she raised her initial complaint.

22. To be within our time limit, Mrs P needed to bring her complaint to us by May 2024. We have seen Mrs P was unhappy with her initial response and liaised with the Trust concluding in an email on 28 September where it confirmed it had nothing further to add and signposted our service.

23. Mrs P brought her complaint to us on 3 November 2025, approximately eighteen months outside our time limit.

24. We asked Mrs P about this delay. Mrs P told us she feared losing her children if she complained to us sooner. She said there was prolonged investigation times, and that she did not fully understanding the allegations. She also explained she had major surgery during this time.

25. We have seen Mrs P complained to the Trust on 19 May 2023, in good time following her awareness of the safeguarding referral. The Trust responded to Mrs P on 22 September, four months later. As the time the Trust took to respond to her complaint is outside of Mrs P’s control, we will put this time aside.

26. Mrs P told us between September 2023 and February 2025 she attended a number of Child Protection conferences with the local authority, continued to engage with the Trust regarding her daughter’s behaviour, raising complaints with the local authority and seeking private assessments for autism and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder.

27. From information provided by Mrs P, she had an operation on 6 June 2023.

28. When Mrs P raised the complaint on 5 February 2025, the Trust considered this to be an extension to the previous complaint responded to in 2023 and reopened the initial complaint.

29. It responded to this reopened complaint on 8 May 2025, three months later, where they recommended she refers the matter to us if she remains unhappy. As Mrs P remained unhappy she wrote back to the Trust on 14 May, where they issued its response on 9 October, five months later. Again, as the time the Trust took to respond to her complaint is outside of Mrs P’s control, we will put this time aside.

30. We do not underestimate the fear of having her children taken into care, and how dealing with her recovery from her surgery must have been difficult. We have seen during the time since her awareness to complain Mrs P was able to raise concerns about issues with other organisations and engage fully in the child protection and safeguarding processes.

31. We have considered the time it took the Trust was formulating its responses to Mrs P’s complaints and have put this time to one side. Having done so, Mrs P still remains six months out of time to refer her complaint to us.

32. We acknowledge the difficulties Mrs P faced during this time and how upsetting she found the referral. We have not seen sufficient reasons to put our time limit aside. We will therefore take no further action.

33. We understand this decision may be disappointing for Mrs P, especially given the time and effort she has invested. We thank Mrs P for bringing her complaint to us and appreciate the opportunity to consider it.

1. We have carefully considered Mrs P’s complaint about Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust). We have decided the complaint falls outside our time limit, and we have not seen sufficient grounds to put the time limit to one side.

2. We are sorry to hear about the circumstances of Mrs P’s complaint. We understand how worrying it can be for a parent when a safeguarding referral is made.