Decision Report 201910147

Summary

C was removed from their GP practice patient list. The practice were contacted by Practitioner Services (part of NHS National Services Scotland who support primary care providers) after this and suggested the practice refer C to the board's Challenging Behaviour General Practice (CBGP). The practice referred C to the CBGP.

C complained that the practice had unreasonably referred them to CBGP. C said the practice were not required to refer C to CBGP, did not have a good reason to refer them and did not follow the correct procedure.

We found that once the practice’s request to have C removed from their patient list was actioned, they were not obliged to arrange any future care for C. However, Practitioner Services found themselves unable to place C on a patient list of another GP practice in the area. They went back to C’s most recent practice and asked them to refer C to the board’s CBGP. The referral the practice sent meant C might (if the referral was accepted) have access to primary care services. We decided that the decision to refer C to CGBP was reasonable in the circumstances. As such, we did not uphold this complaint.

However, we found that the processes in place were not helpful to guiding the situation C found themselves in. Understandably C was left confused about why the referral was made and had to contact the practice themselves to find this out. We passed on our feedback to the relevant health board.