Overview
Ms C called NHS 24 when her mother (Mrs A)'s condition deteriorated. She was concerned that she did not receive accurate information on the night of the call about the time it might take for a GP to attend. She was also unhappy that she had been informed only one GP was on duty overnight to cover the large, rural area where Mrs A lived.
Specific complaints and conclusions
The complaints which have been investigated are that:
- (a) the communication about GP attendance time was inadequate (upheld); and
- (b) GP out-of-hours cover for the Borders NHS Board (the Board) area was inadequate (not upheld).
Redress and recommendations
The Ombudsman recommends that:
- (i) the Board review their procedures for keeping patients who are referred from NHS24 informed about likely GP attendance, when the GP is not in the hub when the referral is received;
- (ii) NHS24 and the Board both apologise to Mrs A's family for not appropriately communicating to Ms C the difficulties in arranging GP attendance and the likely time this would take; and
- (iii) NHS24 share with her the results of their audit of home visits that are made within one hour.
The Board and NHS24 have accepted the recommendations and will act on them accordingly.
* Ms C's complaint was fully supported by her sister and they brought the complaint to the Ombudsman's office together. For clarity, I refer only to Ms C in this report.