Consultant failed to discuss withdrawal of treatment plan

[Lauralouu1]

UK.
My dad had terminal cancer. He had a secondary in his windpipe causing him to cough excessively and break ribs, pain was +++. The consultant offered him radiotherapy to reduce this tumor- we all knew it was only a treatment o help him remain comfortable. He was waiting for appt for over four weeks, pain got really bad so went into local hospice to give his wife a break and have a medication review. He was in for four days and I had to threaten a safeguarding alert before the oncology team communicated with the hospice- despite the hospice calling several times a day.
That afternoon the news came back that the consultant had withdrawn the promised treatment plan and failed to communicate with my dad, I then had to tell my dad, my 13 year old sister and his wife and my other siblings he was now just under palliative care. this was because I was the one that happened to be their that day.
the impact was significant, he could not then get discharged to go home as we had no time to get a package of care in place, he never seen his beloved cats again, he died in hospice not at home.

I have been advised (by a Human rights lawyer at a conference so he could not give me details as he was not allowed, it was more of a wink and look at the Human Rights type of chat).. this contravened his human rights under section 8 and potentially article 2- inhuman treatment. I am trying to find case law or relevant advice to help me structure my complaint. I have also started to research the CQC, Social care institute for excellence etc but would really appreciate and suggestions that are relevant.

I’m really sorry for your loss

I work in patient safety and quality, used to work for CQC.

First thing you should do is write a clear complaint regarding your concerns about the consultant’s change of mind and the lack of communication between oncology and hospice. You need to think about what you’re hoping to achieve from this, and make it clear in your letter (ie do you want to know processes have been changed and this won’t happen to someone else, an acknowledgement that they messed up and apology, compensation etc etc)

From there you can then decide how to escalate. I think most places will expect you to have contacted the services directly about your dissatisfaction before they’ll intervene.

Bear in mind CQC won’t look at individual complaints - they look at services more globally than that

Sorry, not totally clear.

You should raise all of your concerns in your complaint - not just the two bits I pulled out of your text