A Fife medical practice will apologise to the family of a man who died the day after he tried and failed to speak to a GP.
The dead man’s brother known only as Mr C complained to the ombudsman about the care and treatment his late brother, Mr A, received from the practice.
Mr A had been suffering from a cough, shortness of breath and chest pain and died last April from a pulmonary thromboembolism, a blood clot that detaches before lodging in another part of the body.
Mr C said he believed the practice had contributed to his sibling’s death. He complained that Mr A’s GP did not treat his condition as worsening on his last visit and said that the day before his death a receptionist had not allowed Mr A to speak to or see a GP when he called to get test results.
The grieving man was unhappy with the response he received when he complained to the practice, claiming there were several things which were inaccurate or incorrect in its reply.
Mr C questioned why the GP had not considered or recognised that his brother’s condition was getting worse and disputed the practice’s version of what was said during the call with the receptionist.
The ombudsman took independent advice from a GP who found medical records depicted a series of events which were consistent with a chest infection, with some additional signs which needed further investigation.
It was found the appropriate tests had been arranged so the complaint about Mr A’s treatment was not upheld.
However, the adviser also said the role of reception staff was to facilitate communication between patients and GPs and so they should not be making a decision that a patient who specifically asked to speak to a doctor should not have that option. It was found that the information should have been passed to the GP to make a decision on how to proceed.
The ombudsman recommended that the practice:
* Carry out a significant event analysis, paying particular attention to its system of contacting an on-call doctor.
* Ensure GPs involved in Mr A’s care discuss this complaint.
* Establish which receptionist spoke to Mr A on the date in question.
* Review the details of the GP’s complaint response to the information received from reception staff and write to Mr C to explain the findings.
* Review and revise where appropriate the system for passing on patients’ requests to speak to a doctor.
* Consider enhanced staff training for receptionists in interacting with patients and practice guidelines on responding to someone who asks to speak to a doctor.