Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

3. Mr D complains about the care and treatment he received from Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust) in April 2024 for severe chest wall and thoracic spine pain (discomfort in upper back), which has progressively worsened since an accident in 1986.

4. He specifically complains about a consultation in April 2024 where he feels the doctor dismissed his concerns and overlooked his care, including pain management. He says he has experienced significant changes in his chest wall and ribcage, which he believes were present but overlooked in scans from 2007, 2010, and 2017.

5. He says over the course of a decade, the failure to properly diagnose or recognise his underlying chest-wall condition has had a damaging and avoidable impact on his health and wellbeing.

6. By bringing this complaint to us, Mr D seeks an explanation, apology, and confirmation of service improvements.

7. Mr D had an accident in 1986 and for many years endured severe chest wall and thoracic spine pain which has got progressively worse over time. The condition has restricted his breathing, limited his mobility, and made basic daily activities exhausting and painful.

8. The complaint arises from a consultation Mr D had in April 2024 but extends beyond that discussion to long-standing concerns about the accuracy of his radiological assessments, the recognition of pre-existing conditions, and the impact these have had on his care. He says after 10 years of ongoing symptoms and unsatisfactory responses, he felt the need to raise his concerns.

11. The Law says a person needs to make their complaint to us within a year of becoming aware of the problem, we cannot investigate complaints brought to us after one year, unless we consider there is a good reason to do so.

12. Mr D complains about the care and treatment he received from the Trust in April 2024 at a consultation. He says during the consultation, his concerns were dismissed and his care overlooked. We are sorry to hear about Mr D’s experience, and the mental and physical pain and distress he has been though.

13. Mr D’s complaint dates back to an operation he had in 1986 which has progressed over the years through various care and treatment with the Trust. We are taking Mr D’s latest date of knowledge as 25 April 2024 where he complains about a consultation, and when he was aware of all issues to complain about.

14. Mr D complained to the Trust on 7 February 2025 and received the Trust response on 10 July 2025. Mr D raised his outstanding concerns with the Trust, which the Trust received on 15 September 2025, and the Trust responded to him and signposted him to PHSO on 24 September 2025. Therefore, the Trust took around five months to respond to Mr D’s complaint.

15. For Mr D’s complaint to be in time for our considerations, the complaint needed to be with us by 25 April 2025. His complaint form was sent to PHSO on 18 December 2025. This means Mr D’s complaint is out of time by approximately eight months.

16. On 3 August 2026, we spoke to Mr D about his complaint and to better understand the reasons why he did not bring his complaint to us any sooner given his complaint falls outside our time limit.

17. Mr D found it difficult to understand why his complaint appeared to be out of time and thought it would be best we spoke to his advocate. We arranged a call with his advocate on 5 August 2026. We explained from the timeline of events, Mr D’s complaint is out of time as it relates to a consultation which happened on 25 April 2024.

18. We explained there are occasions when we can waive the time limit where a complainant provides justifiable reasons. We asked Mr D’s advocate to speak to him about the reasons why he could not bring his complaint to us any sooner so we could assess whether we could waive our time limit.

19. On 10 August 2026, Mr D’s advocate emailed us with a statement from Mr D outlining the reasoning for the delay for our consideration.

20. Mr D explains over the course of more than a decade, the failure to properly diagnosis, or even recognise, his underlying chest wall condition had a profound, damaging, and entirely avoidable impact on his health and wellbeing. Since at least 2007, he watched his body change, his symptoms worsen, and his breathing deteriorate. He says this was all while being met with dismissive, and indifferent medical assessments. He says he has lived with constant pain, physical limitations, and frightening changes to his mobility and vision.

21. He says he struggles with pain and poor mobility every day. This has significantly affected his ability to carry out everyday tasks and participate in everyday life. He says he attempted to pursue his complaint to the best of his ability, but due to the impact of his condition, he has had to take breaks to manage his pain and organise his thoughts while preparing correspondence. He says he struggles with exhaustion and often finds he has no energy at the end of the day due to his pain.

22. Mr D says the complaint process itself has also taken a considerable amount of time. When he initially submitted his complaint to the Trust, he says the Trust returned it as it required revision before it could be investigated. He says completing these revisions took time because of his health. He says after receiving the Trust response, he found it disappointing, as he felt it had not addressed his concerns in full. He prepared a further letter setting out his outstanding concerns and the Trust then signposted him to PHSO.

23. He says the length of the process has not been due to any lack of commitment on his part, rather, it reflets both the complexity of the issues and the significant physical limitations he has experienced because of his condition.

24. We appreciate Mr D taking the time to provide the reasons why he could not approach us with his complaint any sooner. We are sorry to hear about the pain and suffering Mr D has been through and the impact the complaints process has had on him.

25. Mr D was aware he had reason to complain on 25 April 2024. We appreciate the health issues he experienced influenced the time it took him to complain to the Trust and this was 10 months after his date of knowledge. We can see the Trust took five months to provide its initial response and after Mr D raised his outstanding concerns on 15 September 2025, the Trust provided its final response to Mr D on 24 September 2025. Nearly three months later, in December 2025, Mr D sent his complaint form to PHSO.

26. We understand Mr D has been receiving help from an advocate for several years about the same issues relating to the 1986 accident, including the consultation in April 2024. Whilst we appreciate that Mr D’s health issues would have meant that it took him longer to pursue his complaint, we do not consider that it accounts for the eight-month delay. We would also expect with the help of an advocate Mr D could have come to us sooner, and within our 12-month timeframe.

27. He also raised his concerns with NHS England and other bodies before approaching our office and therefore we consider he did have the capacity to come to our office with his complaint within the timeframe.

28. As we have not seen good enough reason to put our time limit to one side, we will take no further action on this complaint as it is out of time for our considerations. We thank Mr D for bringing us his complaint and we wish him well for the future.

1. We have carefully considered Mr D’s complaint about Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust). As the complaint falls outside of our time limit by a significant amount, and as we have not seen any justifiable reason to waive our time limit, we will take no further action on this complaint.

2. We are sorry to hear about the circumstances of Mr D’s complaint and the impact the experience has had on his health. We appreciate Mr D had found it a difficult process, and this is not the decision Mr D was expecting to receive.