Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

4. Miss G complains about aspects of service her father, Mr T, received from Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust). Specifically, Miss G says the Trust:

• did not complete a property list and lost her father’s wallet while he was unconscious in hospital in April 2025 • did not do a complete investigation when her father’s belongings were reported missing • did not provide a suitable remedy.

5. Miss G says the Trust’s actions had a severe emotional impact on her and her family, especially as he passed away in hospital, and the items had sentimental value. This included, photographs and notes he had for years. She says this has made the grieving process much worse after her father’s death.

6. She says the wallet contained personal items such as her father’s national identity card. This loss has caused her and her family distress as there have been legal difficulties in dealing with his property and affairs in his home country.

7. She also says her and her family have suffered financial loss as her father had at least £600 cash inside when it was lost.

8. She says the Trust only offered an apology which she and her family found dismissive, especially as her father had died.

9. Miss G would like an acknowledgement and formal apology from senior hospital leadership.

10. She would also like a financial remedy and service improvements.

11. What follows is our summary of events. We have not included all the full details as those involved are already aware of this information. However, we have included this brief background to put this complaint in context.

12. On 27 March 2025, Miss G’s father, Mr T, stopped breathing at home. He was unconscious and went to hospital in an ambulance.

13. The ambulance took him to the resuscitation unit, he went for an X-ray, and was then urgently transported to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Miss G was with him during this time.

14. Miss G said one to two days later, ICU staff did a property check and asked Miss G and her family where Mr T’s belongings were. Miss G and her family told staff they did not have any of his property. She asked staff if they had done a property list, and they said they did not.

15. She said staff did not know where his property was, and told her to call her father’s banks and get his credit cards cancelled. She said they did this in a dismissive manner.

16. Miss G informed us staff in the X-ray unit said they did not have the property, but they would speak to their manager, who would give her a call. Miss G said she never received a call from the manager.

17. Miss G said her father’s property was never returned to her and the family.

Property list and loss of wallet

20. Miss G complains her father, Mr T’s, property was lost by hospital staff. This including his wallet, around £500 cash, credit cards, his identity card and other personal notes and items. She said she knew there were around six or seven £50 notes in her father’s wallet as it was something he always carried with him. She said he always kept the wallet with him, so it would have been in his pyjama bottoms when he went to hospital.

21. Miss G says the loss of her father’s wallet and its contents had severe emotional impact on her and her family, especially as he passed away in hospital, and some of the items had sentimental value. This included, photographs and notes he had for years. She says this has made the grieving process much worse after her father’s death.

22. Miss G believes the Trust should have safeguarded his property while he was unconscious and not able to make decisions himself.

23. She said her father’s wallet contained personal items such as his national identity card. This loss has caused her and her family severe distress as there have been legal difficulties in dealing with his property and affairs in his home country.

24. Miss G said the Trust’s staff did not seem interested in assisting her with Mr T’s lost property on the day he was transported there and did not make an effort to find it. She also claims she heard one staff member say they saw his wallet and put it in a white bag behind the bed.

25. In its complaint response dated 19 June 2025, the Trust said it had done everything possible to locate her father's wallet, including thorough searches and enquiries across the areas involved in his care.

26. It also apologised staff did not complete a property list when he arrived at the resuscitation unit. It said the resuscitation environment can often be highly unpredictable, with staff focusing on managing critically ill patients who require immediate and intensive care.

27. The Trust continued to explain that the lack of property list being completed has been shared with the relevant teams to identify areas for improvement. It said it was reviewing its processes for handling and documenting properties, particularly during patient transfers, to prevent similar incidents in the future.

28. Section 2 of the Trust’s patient property procedures says when a patient is admitted to a ward or A&E, any property, cash and valuables should be handed in for safe keeping and be recorded in the patients’ property book. It also says in the case of the patient being unable to sign, a relative or member of staff should sign on their behalf.

29. Section 10 of the Trust’s patient property procedures also says if any patient’s personal property is lost whilst staying on the wards or departments of the Trust, nursing staff must carry out full search and explore all possible avenues.

30. We do recognise the Trust did conduct a full search to try and find Mr T’s property, in line with its patient property procedures.

31. However, we also note the Trust admitted it did not complete a property list for Mr T, which was not in line with its patient property procedures.

32. Therefore, we do see indications of failings as the Trust did not follow its patient property procedures when it did not complete a property list for Miss G’s father.

Investigation into lost property

33. Miss G said staff at the hospital told her they would start to conduct an investigation into Mr T’s lost property and would get back to her. She said she never got the results of such investigation.

34. In its complaint response, the Trust said it had undertaken searches and enquiries across the areas involved in Mr T’s care, including the emergency department, resuscitation and intensive care units.

35. Section 10 of the Trust’s patient property procedures says if any patient’s personal property is lost whilst staying on the wards or departments of the Trust, the following should take place:

• an investigation must be carried out by the ward/department where the loss occurred to see if the property was seen by any member of staff and the patient’s property list made by the admitting nurse should be checked to determine if the property was brought in by the patient at the time of admission • the result of the investigation should be reported back to the head of department, Matron, senior nurse/midwife or in their absence the General Manager • a report should be submitted to the General Manager who will then review the situation and decide whether a ‘loss and compensation’ form should be submitted. If yes, this will be completed by the ward, department manager or person in charge with the appropriate details, including an attached action plan to prevent reoccurrence • the General Manager will raise the issue with the accounts Department, where appropriate, to obtain the correct monetary compensation for the lost articles.

36. Upon reviewing available documents, we cannot see any evidence a full, formal investigation took place. This is not in line with the Trust’s patient property procedures.

Impact

37. We recognise the loss of Mr T’s wallet had an emotional impact on Miss G at a difficult time when she was grieving her father’s death. We also recognise this led to difficulties dealing with Mr T’s affairs in his home country due to the loss of his identity card.

38. Miss G also tells us she suffered financial loss of the cash in her father’s wallet. We note Miss G is uncertain about how much cash this was. In some of her contacts with us she has referred to there being at least £300, but at other times she has said there was at least £500 or £600. We understand Miss G does not know exactly how much cash was in her father’s wallet.

Remedy offered by the Trust

39. Miss G said she did not believe the Trust provided her and her family with a suitable remedy, considering the impact the loss of her father’s property had caused them.

40. Miss G said she would also like acknowledgement and a formal apology from senior hospital leadership. She also requested a financial remedy of £600–£800, as well as service improvements to prevent others from experiencing the same negative experience.

41. In its complaint response, the Trust apologised to Mr T’s family for the additional pain the loss of his property caused them and its failure to complete a property list for his belongings.

42. This is in line with our Principles for Remedy, which say organisations should acknowledge what went wrong and apologise about the impact.

43. We consider the apology in the complaint response a suitable remedy as this was signed by the Trust’s chief executive, therefore constituting senior leadership.

44. The Trust’s letter also explained it had shared areas for improvement with the relevant teams to identify and was reviewing its processes for handling and documenting property, particularly during patient transfers, to prevent similar incidents in future.

45. This is also in line with our Principles for Remedy, which says public bodies can deliver service improvements by revising procedures, training or supervising staff, or doing any combination of these things, to avoid the same thing happening again.

46. We therefore consider the Trust has provided some remedies Miss G is seeking with its apology and service improvements.

47. In terms of financial remedy, the Trust offered in writing to pay Miss G and her family £300. Initially, Miss G and her family rejected this as they felt it did not adequately address their emotional and financial loss.

Resolution

48. Following recent discussions with both Miss G and the Trust, we are satisfied it has now reconfirmed it is willing to pay Miss G £300 to remedy its failings, and we are pleased Miss G has now reconsidered her earlier stance and has now accepted its offer.

49. We consider a financial remedy of £300 in line with level two of our financial guidance to be appropriate, considering the emotional impact caused to Miss G and her family. Our financial remedy guidance says a level two remedy would be appropriate for cases where there is emotional distress, upset or worry lasting from one to two weeks to about six months.

50. As the amount of cash in the wallet is unconfirmed and uncertain we do not consider it is appropriate to ask the Trust to provide a separate payment to reimburse this.

51. Therefore, we consider this agreed resolution meets all Miss G’s desired outcomes and we will not be carrying out any further investigation into her complaint. We are glad Miss G has accepted the offer and we hope this will help her draw a line under these distressing events.

52. Having made our decision, we also want to acknowledge no amount of money could ever remedy Miss G’s loss and we would like to extend our sincerest condolences to her and her family for Mr T’s death.

1. We have carefully considered Miss G’s complaint about Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust). We are sorry to learn of the issues she experienced at the Trust during her late father’s last days and we offer our sincerest condolences for her loss.

2. Before we decide if we should conduct a detailed investigation of a complaint, we look at whether there are signs the events complained about had a negative effect which the organisation has not put right.

3. Following our enquiries to the Trust, it has provided a letter in response to Miss G’s complaint detailing its apologies for its handling of Miss G’s late father’s lost wallet and provided a financial redress of £300 payable to Miss G as resolution to her complaint. Miss G has confirmed she will accept this as resolution to her complaint. Therefore, we do not need to take any further action.