University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust

3. Miss A complains about the care provided to her father, Mr B, by University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (the Trust) from September 2024 to 15 June 2025.

4. Miss A says that her father’s life could have been saved by the Trust. She says the inadequate care that her father received when he was in hospital over several, months, and his unexpected death on 15 June 2025, has caused her to suffer from anxiety, depression and trauma.

5. As an outcome, Miss A wants a sincere apology from the Trust and a financial remedy of £100,000.

7. 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. We have discussed this with Miss A to understand her circumstances and the outcomes she wants. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look in to.

8. Miss A has told us that she feels Mr B’s sad death was avoidable and she considers that from September 2024 to June 2025, there were several examples of gross negligence in in the care provided to him by the Trust. Therefore, we recognise the potential injustice for Miss A as she says Mr B died unexpectedly. This is a tragic situation for Miss A, and she has suffered from anxiety, depression and trauma since her father’s death.

9. From what Miss A has told us, we consider she may be describing a claim of medical negligence against the Trust. We note Miss A is seeking £100,000 financial remedy as her main desired outcome from this complaint. Miss A has also confirmed to us that she intends to escalate this matter legally. It is unlikely that we can achieve this level of financial remedy for Miss A, but she may be able to achieve such levels through successful legal action.

10. Therefore, we consider Miss A has a cause of action (medical negligence), and she should still be in time to take such action with support from an appropriate legal representative as the episode of care in question is within the last three years.

11. There is little merit in us continuing with our consideration of Miss A’s complaint if we know we cannot achieve the main resolution that she wants. This is particularly important if we consider there is a way that Miss A may be able to achieve the outcome through legal action. Overall, we consider that Miss A has a reasonable ALR to resolve her complaint about the Trust.

12. We do remain an option for considering Miss A’s complaint about the Trust, but only if the legal route does not cover some parts of her complaint that we can realistically consider. Therefore, in accordance with our processes, we must close Miss A’s Ombudsman complaint. Miss A can come back to us at the end of the legal process if she remains dissatisfied, but there is no guarantee we will be able to further consider any outstanding issues or achieve the outcomes she is seeking.

1. We have carefully considered Miss A’s complaint about University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust.

-We consider Miss A could take legal action on the matters she has brought to us.

2. We are sorry to hear from Miss A about the inadequate levels of care provided to her father, Mr B, when he was in hospital. This must have been distressing for Miss A to witness, and no doubt Miss A’s distress was exacerbated when Mr B sadly died.