Decision Report 202502789

Summary

C complained that they were unreasonably removed from the practice list. Practices are entitled to remove patients from their lists in certain circumstances. However, the practice must be able to demonstrate that they have acted in a way that is consistent with The National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) (Scotland) Regulations 2018 and General Medical Council guidance to ending a professional relationship with a patient.

We found that the practice had not acted in accordance with the relevant regulations and guidance when removing C from their practice list. They had not provided any contemporaneous written records setting out the reason why no warning was given in this case and the circumstances of the removal. Therefore, we upheld this complaint.

We also identified that in relation to complaint handling, the practice complaint response did not address C’s points of complaint, which is contrary to the Model Complaints Handling Procedure, which states that you must make sure that any complaints or concerns raised by the patient are responded to promptly, fully and honestly. We fed this back to the practice.

Recommendations

What we asked the organisation to do in this case:

• Apologise to C for to failing identified. The apology should meet the standards set out in the SPSO guidelines on apology available at www.spso.org.uk/meaningful-apologies.

We have asked the organisation to provide us with evidence that they have implemented the recommendations we have made on this case by the deadline we set.