Decision Report 201306223

Summary

Mrs C complained on behalf of her husband (Mr C) about a home visit by a GP from their local health centre. Mrs C felt the GP did not provide her husband with adequate care and treatment. She said that the GP was in her house for less than five minutes, did not carry out medical checks properly, and did not arrange for Mr C to go to hospital. Instead, the GP arranged for a rehabilitation team and social work to visit Mr C later that day. In response to the complaint, the GP said that Mr C declined the offer of admission to hospital, which was why she arranged the visit from the rehabilitation team and social work. The rehabilitation team contacted the GP and said Mr C now agreed with being admitted to hospital, and so the GP arranged this. Mrs C felt, however, that the delay was because of the GP's actions and complained to us.

We looked at the information Mrs C sent us, as well as information from the GP, including Mr C's medical records. We also took independent advice from our GP adviser. We could not reconcile the different recollections of exactly what was said and done during the visit. Our adviser looked at Mr C's medical records, however, and found that they showed that the GP provided reasonable care and treatment during it, and had acted correctly after the rehabilitation team contacted her. Our adviser also said there was no clinical indication that Mr C should have been admitted to hospital more quickly than he was.