Decision report 201004882

  • Case ref:
    201004882
  • Date:
    December 2011
  • Body:
    A Medical Practice, Lanarkshire NHS Board
  • Sector:
    Health
  • Outcome:
    Not upheld, no recommendations
  • Subject:
    clinical treatment; diagnosis

Summary
Ms C complained about the treatment that her young daughter (Ms A) received from GPs at her local medical practice. In particular she felt the GPs delayed in taking action on Ms A's high cholesterol level and that at two appointments a GP failed to treat Ms A's symptoms of cough and explosive diarrhoea.

We found that at the time of the high cholesterol reading, Ms A was under the care of hospital clinicians, and as such they, rather than the GP, were responsible for monitoring this and deciding if treatment was appropriate. On the failure to take action in relation to Ms A's cough and explosive diarrhoea, after taking advice from one of our medical advisers, we found that clinically the actions of the GP were reasonable, although there were clearly communication difficulties between Ms C and the GP.

Our investigation also noted that there were concerns about the way the medical practice handled the complaint and, although we made no recommendations, we reminded them of their responsibilities under the NHS complaints procedure.
 

Updated: March 13, 2018