Information request for the number of investigations resulting in a recommendation of financial compensation where a keyword of 'potential avoidable death' has been flagged on our electronic case management system
Thank you for your email of 15 March 2015 in which you asked for the following information:
"For the months of December 2014, January and February of this year, please list in chronological order all cases involving a death in which you recommended financial compensation. Specify the amount of compensation in each case. Further specify which of the cases involved the death of a child."
Please find below the number of investigations resulting in a recommendation of financial compensation (within payment ranges) where a keyword of 'potential avoidable death' has been flagged on our electronic case management system. One case, a case closed in December 2014, involved the death of a child. I have included the number of payments within different ranges rather than releasing specific amounts to reduce the potential for information created during the course of an investigation being revealed. In doing so I am able to release more information to you than if they were to be considered as more specific individual amounts.
To help set the information provided in context, I should explain that in deciding on the level of a payment we consider the injustice the complainant has suffered as a result of the maladministration or service failure we have identified. Any payment we recommend is not compensation for the maladministration or service failure itself but for the injustice suffered. No two cases are exactly the same and the impact of the same type of maladministration or service failure can be very different on individuals depending on their circumstances. Injustice could include whether the service failure had a direct or contributory impact on the cause of a person's death; or whether failures in care before death exacerbated the grief suffered by a deceased person's family.
It is also important to note that the recommendation of a financial remedy in cases involving a death may not necessarily be linked to clinical failure or the death itself. It may relate, for example, to another element of the complaint such as poor complaints handling.
Please be aware that the total number of investigations involving a recommendation of financial compensation and the death of an individual may be higher, but are not fewer than those included in the attached document. This is because I can only identify where a death has occurred by searching for the keyword 'potential avoidable death', or by searching all other customer files, which would take longer than the appropriate time set out by section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Finally, I am unable to provide further specific information about the case involving the death of a child. Providing information about an individual case may make the case identifiable and disclose personal information. In any event, further detailed information is exempt under section 44 of the Freedom of Information Act because its disclosure is prohibited by the Health Service Commissioners Act 1993.
| Recommendation Amount | December 2014 | January 2015 | February 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than £501 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| £501 - £1,000 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| £1001 - £2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| £2001 - £5,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| £5001 - £10,000 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| More than £10,001 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
I hope the information is helpful.
FOI/DP Officer
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman