Decision Report 201700247

Summary

Miss C complained that her GP practice was not recognising her mental health problems and that they refused to carry out home visits. Miss C told us that she believes she has agoraphobia (a fear of entering open or crowded places, of leaving one's own home, or of being in places from which escape is difficult), although she has not been given a formal diagnosis.

Miss C wanted a diagnosis of agoraphobia and also had various concerns about her physical health. Given her condition, she wanted to be seen at home. In their response to our enquiry, the practice confirmed that Miss C had been referred to mental health services and that they had prescribed appropriate medication. They explained that they would always discourage home visits as they are not the correct setting for most medical problems. They said that in Miss C's case, they had concerns about visiting at home due to a mental health assessment which identified a concern that home visits could have a negative effect on Miss C's wellbeing.

We took independent advice from a GP adviser. We found that the treatment provided to Miss C was reasonable and the adviser had no concerns about the care provided by the practice. In relation to the home visit requests, the adviser noted that Miss C had not been diagnosed with an acute mental illness which would stop her from attending the surgery. They said that unless the patient is housebound, patients are best seen in a practice environment. We found that the practice had taken reasonable measures to support Miss C by offering quiet appointment times, phone consultations and offering home visits from a community psychiatric team. We noted that Miss C had declined to engage with services or treatment to help her, and considered that there was no further action the practice could reasonably take. Therefore, we did not uphold either of these complaints.