Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust

3. Mr U complains about the care and treatment the Trust provided to his mother, Mrs H, between 2 and 3 July 2025.

4. He specifically complains the Trust: • should not have discharged his mother on 2 July without checking her vitals again after 5.45pm • should have recognised and acted on his mother's deterioration and pain on 3 July • did not communicate well with him about his mother's condition or deterioration on 3 July.

5. Mr U says he believes the poor care the Trust provided to his mother led to her death, which could have been prevented. He says this has caused him ongoing distress, guilt and shock. The poor communication meant he did not understand the severity of the situation and lost the opportunity to be with his mother when she died.

6. Mr U wants the Trust to acknowledge and apologise for the failings it made. He also wants the Trust to make improvements to its service and pay him some financial redress.

9. 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 Mr U to understand his circumstances and the outcomes he wants. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look in to.

10. Mr U complains, in part, that failings in his mother’s care led to his mother’s death. He also told us the events have had a considerable impact on him and caused significant distress. He could therefore potentially pursue a clinical negligence claim.

11. Mr U told us he is seeking a financial remedy as one of the outcomes to his complaint within level six of our Severity of Injustice Scale. These are the most serious cases seen by us, involving devastating or irreversible injustice. Examples include avoidable death and the award for this is £12,500 or more.

12. We asked Mr U whether he had explored legal action in relation to his concerns, he told us he has not but that he is open to exploring it. He also confirmed there are no barriers to prevent him from seeking legal advice.

13. We can achieve various levels of compensation. However, it is unlikely we would achieve high levels of compensation that the courts may achieve.

14. We consider it is reasonable for Mr U to explore legal action given the serious nature of his concerns, the significant impact he is claiming and the amount of financial compensation he is seeking. We also would not wish to deny Mr U the opportunity to take legal action by considering his complaint and causing him to be outside of the three-year limitation for doing so.

15. If someone seeks a mix of outcomes, some of which they cannot achieve through legal action, we still consider if it is appropriate for someone to pursue a claim. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed, only whether it would be a reasonable option to explore.

16. Outcomes like acknowledgement of errors and apologies may also be achieved indirectly through legal action. While a court cannot typically recommend such outcomes, an organisation may take those actions proactively to avoid similar legal claims in future.

17. Since our telephone call with Mr U on 10 July, he has been in contact with different solicitor firms to pursue legal action. This is currently still ongoing, and we consider it proportionate to close Mr U’s complaint at this time whilst he awaits responses.

18. In summary, we believe it is reasonable for Mr U to pursue a legal remedy.

19. He can return to our service if he has outstanding outcomes following legal action, or if he is unable to get a solicitor to pursue his claim.

20. If Mr U chooses to bring the complaint back to us for us to consider, we would advise he does so as promptly as possible. This is because we have a one-year time-limit by which to consider complaints (from the day a person became aware of their reason to complain).

21. We have discretion to set this time-limit to one side if there are strong reasons to do so. We will consider the time it has taken us to consider the complaint and any other delays outside of his control.

22. We are grateful to Mr U for the time he has taken to explain the details of his complaint to us, and we recognise this has been a difficult time. We hope this statement clearly explains our decision not to consider his complaint further currently.

1. We have carefully considered Mr U’s complaint about Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust). We are very sorry to learn about the sad death of his mother and the experience he had whilst she was in hospital.

2. We consider Mr U could take legal action on the matter that he has brought to us and understand he is in the process of pursuing this.