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Decision report 201103702

  • Case ref:
    201103702
  • Date:
    July 2012
  • Body:
    A Medical Practice in the Lothian NHS Board area
  • Sector:
    Health
  • Outcome:
    Upheld, recommendations
  • Subject:
    Complaints handling

Summary
Mr C complained to a medical practice about the care and treatment that his mother had received. The practice responded but did not address the matters he had raised. Mr C was dissatisfied with this and his wife raised the matter with us. During our consideration the practice wrote again to Mr C.

We decided that the practice did not reasonably provide him with all the information suggested by their complaints procedure, provided inaccurate information to him, requested unnecessary information from him, and did not advise him of the reasons for their delay in providing a full response. When read together, all the responses from the practice did reasonably address the matters he complained of, but as those responses did not reflect the practice's complaints procedure we upheld the complaint.

Recommendations
We recommended that the practice:
• apologise to Mr C that they did not respond reasonably to his complaint; and
• take steps to ensure that their implementation of their complaints handling procedure and their responses to complaints are in line with that procedure.

Updated: March 13, 2018