Decision Report 201901939

Summary

C complained that the care and treatment they received from the practice was unreasonable. C said that they had developed an intolerance to a number of medications, some of which they had previously tolerated. C sought a referral to pharmacology (the branch of medicine concerned with the uses, effects, and modes of action of drugs) through the practice but complained that they unreasonably failed to facilitate this.

C complained that the GPs at the practice were dismissive of C’s symptoms without reasonable investigations being carried out. C said that their symptoms were inappropriately attributed to anxiety or panic attacks and that GPs provided misleading information in referrals that suited their own presumptions about C’s diagnosis.

We took independent advice from a GP. We found that, whilst the GPs and C disagreed about the likely cause of C’s symptoms, the GPs did not rule out C’s opinion or block their access to specialist investigations. We were satisfied that the practice’s GPs made referrals based on their assessments of C’s symptoms, but put forward C’s opinion for consideration by the receiving specialists.

We were satisfied that the practice’s GPs made appropriate referrals and did not promote their own ideas about C’s likely diagnosis. Whilst we considered that one of the GPs could have communicated more clearly with C about the reasons behind one of the referrals, overall, we found the care and treatment provided by the practice to be reasonable. We did not uphold this complaint.